


Three Spells for Sweet Revenge

by captainrighthook



Series: Danger Days: The Fantastical Lives of the Fabulous Wizards [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, My Chemical Romance
Genre: Crossover, Kinda, M/M, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-20
Updated: 2015-02-12
Packaged: 2017-12-09 00:22:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 31
Words: 49,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/767812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainrighthook/pseuds/captainrighthook
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Frank Iero didn't PLAN on getting revenge for all the shit Gerard Way does to him. It just sorta... happens, but it DOES turn out in his favor. He also doesn't plan on getting in trouble for fighting with Gerard. That too kinda just... happens. That turns out in his favor as well.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Tie My Laces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Help. Help.” Sigh. There’s no answer. Wow, what a surprise. That’s complete and utter sarcasm, by the way. It’s been fucking fifteen minutes, and Frank is finding it hard to believe that absolutely no one needs to get to the owlery? Yeah, what a likely story. He hadn’t been shouting for help, more like asking. Talking. He’s pretty damn apathetic about it too. “Help? Hel – oh, never mind.”

“You can see me smile if you let me just stick around.” – _Mayday Parade; A Shot Across the Bow_

* * *

“Help. Help.” _Sigh_. There’s no answer. Wow, what a surprise. That’s complete and utter sarcasm, by the way. It’s been fucking _fifteen_ minutes, and Frank is finding it hard to believe that absolutely _no one_ needs to get to the owlery? Yeah, what a likely story. He hadn’t been shouting for help, more like asking. Talking. He’s pretty damn apathetic about it too. “Help? Hel – oh, never mind.”

Frank is about five fucking seconds from making an attempt to get down, but he doesn’t think it’d go very well. He’d rather _not_ fall on his head, thank you very much. Nonetheless, it was another five minutes before there was any sign of life; about fifty yards away, Frank notices three people who look a _lot_ like his friends. So much like his friends that he’s not afraid to yell at them.

“Toro! Bryar! Potter!” The three of them stop and look around, seemingly confused at where the voice came from. Frank sighs and shakes his head. It would be like his friends to show up fucking twenty minutes _after_ Frank was hung upside down. Sometimes his friends are idiots. “Over here you dumbasses!”

Harry point in his direction and the three boys start to jog over to him. Once in ear shot, Bob says, “Hey, we’ve been looking for you! Pretty good hiding place, Iero.” Bob is one of those guys who thinks he’s really fucking hilarious when in reality he’s just really fucking annoying.

Frank rolls his eyes, “I wasn’t fucking _hiding_ , Bob. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m _stuck here_.” Harry pulls out his want and aims it at Frank: _Levicorpus_! Suddenly Frank is weightless, and when his feet touch the ground, his legs protest.

“Whoa!” Ray says, quickly catching Frank before he can hit the ground. Frank grunts in anger, but doesn’t say anything. “We’re going back to the castle. Need a lift?” Frank smiles and gladly climbs onto Ray’s back, slumping against his shoulders.

As they start to head back, Bob asks, “Who did it?”

“Way did it. Who else?” Ah yes, that was a rather stupid question to ask. Of course it was Gerard Way; who else would pick on _Frank_?! He’s the cutest, sassiest, smallest, nicest, punk-rock Gryffindor to ever exist. Only the Slytherins hate him, but that’s only because everyone else loves him. And Frank doesn’t get it!

He doesn’t understand why people would like him. He’s not really that nice to them—or so he says. Frank is more of the ‘If-You’re-Down-On-Your-Luck-I’ll-Send-You-A-Present’ kind of guy versus an ‘I-Make-Big-Obnoxious-Grand-Gestures-So-That-Everyone’ll-Love-Me!’ kind of guy. He actually cares about the welfare of the general public, and not the few on top.

It’s a couple of minutes before Frank realizes Ray’s been talking to him. He shakes his head and tunes into the conversation. “…down a few pegs. I mean, the guy totally deserves it.”

“What’re we talking about?” He asks tiredly. Man, hanging upside down really makes one very exhausted. Frank thinks he might actually fall asleep on Ray. Then again, it _is_ close to supper so maybe he should wait an hour…

“Well,” Bob starts. “I offered to turn Way into a rat for you.”

Harry quickly adds, “I was totally for that plan, just saying.”

“The dude’s an asshat,” Frank said, nodding in agreement.

“Naturally, Toro had to ruin our fun,” Bob said, rolling his eyes.

“Hey, I agreed that Frank deserved _some_ kind of revenge!” Ray argues, trying to shove Bob and keep Frank on his back at the same time. Bob and Harry both say something along the lines of ‘But you have no plan, so rat-boy it is!’

“Hey wait!” Frank yells over all the arguing. “Why don’t you let _me_ come up with something? It only makes sense since _I’m_ the one who was stuck in a tree.” They reach the castle, but Frank still doesn’t want to walk, so Ray decides to just carry him all the way to the Gryffindor table.

Ray goes on this long tangent about what’s morally correct and incorrect, and Frank wonders why he’s not in Hufflepuff? Ray, like, _is_ the epitome of Hufflepuff. Maybe his hair reminded the Sorting Hat of a lion instead of a badger. Yeah, that makes sense in Frank’s mind. He then notices that he’s also been missing out on _this_ conversation as well. Ray has just got done saying, “Got all that?”

“Nope. Yep.” He pauses. “Nope. Hey can we get pumpkin juice?”

Bob laughs, “Whatever you want, Iero.” They enter the noisy Great Hall and the smell of perfectly prepared French fries hit’s Frank’s nose. Once at the table, Frank slides off Ray’s back and collapses into his chair.

“Oh baby I’ve missed you.” He’s staring longingly at the big dish of food in front of him. Everyone around him laughs. Fuck _…_ even though he’s a sixth year it’s still weird that people at Hogwarts actually _like_ him.

It’s ten minutes into the meal when they notice Harry’s been weirdly quiet. Bob elbows him, “Hey, Potter, don’t hurt yourself thinking.”

Frank says, “Give the guy a break, Bryar. He makes explaining Quidditch sound like String Theory.” Bob (aside from some random kid sitting next to Ray) is the only person to laugh at that.

Harry’s brows furrow as he looks at Frank, “String what? Is that a muggle thing?”

Frank face-palms, “…Yes.”

Bob decides to help them all out, “Frank basically said you make flying on a broom sound like science.” _That’s_ when they decide to laugh at his joke, and Frank almost bursts out in hysterics; how is it that they’re all so smart but so fucking idiotic?

“No, it wasn’t as difficult as science.” Harry shakes his head and takes a bite of a cupcake. “Well I guess it kinda is… I mean, I don’t think I’m quite understanding how the guy got you up there by your shoelaces.”


	2. For Shits and Giggles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Yesterday your brother hung me in a tree by my shoelaces.” Mikey looks up when he says ‘brother’ and his face is almost as confused as Ron’s was that morning.
> 
> “Wait,” he says. “Gerard picked on you?”
> 
> Frank nods slowly. “Yeah. Why? Is that strange?”

 “Put on your war paint.” – _Fall Out Boy; The Phoenix_  


* * *

“Okay guys, I’ve got it.” Frank almost knocks Ron out of his seat as he slides into his seat at the table. He slams a piece of paper down and points at it. “ _This_ is how we destroy Gerard Way.” After a second he adds, “Metaphorically, of course.” They all look down at the paper; it’s a picture from The Daily Prophet of a rather wealthy looking family. There’s a mother, father, and two sons—the face of the boy on the left is rather uncomfortable, and it’s also who Frank happened to circle.

Ron looks up at Frank, “Mikey Way?”

“What’s he got to do with it?” Ray asks, looking confused.

“Do you guys never use your eyes?!” Frank asks in an annoyed voice. “In the history of _everyone_ in the Way family, Mikey is the only person to _not_ be sorted into Slytherin.” Ron and Bob still look confused, but Harry and Ray seem to understand.

“They’re purists.” Harry says angrily. “They’re so Slytherin that not even Voldemort fits their standards.”

“Exactly,” Frank nods.

“I still don’t get what this has to do with Mikey,” Ron says through a mouthful of food. Hermione, who was studying next to him, elbows him and gives him a stern look. He swallows and looks guilty.

“I do,” Bob says. “Mikey’s in Ravenclaw, right?” Frank nods. “Their family prides themselves in being pureblood Slytherins. Having a Ravenclaw son who doesn’t mind living with mostly muggle borns and half bloods doesn’t quite fit the Way family bill.”

“In the eyes of Mr. and Mrs. Way,” Harry starts sadly, “he’s a bigger outcast than we are, and Frank’s muggle born, and Bob’s a half blood.” Ron doesn’t say anything; none of them do. A kind of sadness washes over all of them, and nobody really feels hungry anymore. Frank’s got a good feeling this Mikey thing might actually work out.

Naturally he’s wrong.

“So that was a bust,” Frank sighs, falling into his seat. He wads up the picture from The Daily Prophet and throws it across the room, successfully hitting one of the Hufflepuff’s in the head. The boy turns around and looks around confused. Frank holds up his hand, “Sorry, Patrick. I wasn’t aiming for you.”

“What happened?” Bob asks, turning around and looking at him.

“Okay here’s what went down,” he then proceeds to relay the conversation exactly as it happened (but of course he omitted some things). Mikey was outside at the Quidditch pitch, studying while no one else was there. Frank hops down into the seat next to him and smiles.

“Can I help you?” Mikey asks, not looking up from his book.

“Yeah, actually you can.” Frank clears his throat, “Yesterday your brother hung me in a tree by my shoelaces.” Mikey looks up when he says ‘brother’ and his face is almost as confused as Ron’s was that morning.

“Wait,” he says. “Gerard picked on _you_?”

Frank nods slowly. “Yeah. Why? Is that strange?”

“Well, yes.” Mikey shuts his book and looks at Frank properly, taking in every detail of his face. It makes Frank uncomfortable, and after a second, Mikey nods and looks away. “I can see why.” He laughs slightly, “I’m not gay or anything, but you’re really pretty, Frank.”

Frank opens his mouth indignantly. Then he shuts it. Then he says, “What?”

“I mean, just… Gerard likes pretty things. He likes pretty things that are durable. He’s just testing you.” He took in Frank’s panicked expression and then said, “Never mind,” as he shakes his head.

Frank wants to push the subject, and normally he would, but he kinda _needs_ Mikey to help him, and that won’t happen if Mikey is angry at him. “Anyway,” Mikey says. “Do you think _I_ can do something about it? Because Gerard kinda does what he wants and—”

“No! Well, yes. But no.” Frank’s brows furrow. “He picks on me a lot. Actually I’m surprised he hasn’t found me yet and pushed me down the stairs or something.” He rolls his eyes, “That’s beside the point. My friends came up with this really weird notion that I should, like, try and get back at him or something.”

“Oh, and you think that getting close to me, cause I’m his brother, will help you out.” It’s not a question, and Mikey isn’t angry; just putting the pieces together. Frank doesn’t reply. “Well, I’d like to help, but I don’t think it’s a good idea. I mean, I have to _live_ with him, and if he knew I was helping someone fuck with him… I just – I-I don’t know Frank.”

“No, I get it,” Frank nods sadly and stands up. “Thanks anyway, I guess.”

“And _that_ is how I managed to not get Mikey Way to help us,” Frank finishes with a loud sigh of frustration. The part he _didn’t_ tell everyone was when Mikey said he was pretty, and that Gerard liked pretty things.

“No one blames you,” Ray shrugs. “You couldn’t have done anything. Besides, Mikey had a point. He really shouldn’t be helping us out if it means Gerard will make his life a living hell.”

“Either way, I kinda suspected that would happen,” Frank says. “So I came up with ‘Plan B’; or ‘Plan P’ if you wanna be clever.” He leans forward with a shit eating grin. “Pete Wentz.”

“Wait, what?” And that is the moment that Professor Flitwick decides to come into the classroom, and Ron, Harry, and Ray are suck wondering just what the fuck Frank is thinking, deciding to be friends with _Pete_ _Wentz_. They even mention it after class.

“You’re mental,” Ron says.

“I agree,” Ray says.

“Same,” says Harry.

“No, I think it’s smart.” Bob nods. “Pete’s one of my closest friends. Plus he’s friends with Gerard _and_ he _loves_ muggle borns.”

“Well he’s in love _with_ a muggle born,” Frank says under his breath.

“I don’t know why he tries to deny it,” Ray says. “We all know he’s in love with Patrick. It’s just, like, a fact of nature. They’re adorable.” Ron and Harry make ‘ew’ sounds while Bob and Frank laugh.

“So Bob,” Frank says. “Where’s Pete right now?”

Bob shrugs, “I don’t know.”

Ray laughs, “Where’s Patrick?”

“If I know anything about Pete Wentz, it’s that he’ll agree to help us… but only if you get Mikey to help us too.”

Frank sighs in exasperation and jumps onto Bob’s back without a warning. He was expecting it though, and catches Frank effortlessly. Frank rests his head on Bob’s shoulder, “This is going to be a long day.”


	3. Is Blood Really Thicker Than Water?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “This is a democracy, not a monarchy.” Bob glares at Frank. “All those in favor?” Harry, Ron, Pete, and Bob all raise their hands. “All those against it?” Patrick, Ray, and Frank raise their hands. “All those… indifferent towards it?” Mikey raises his hand. “That’s still four to three.”

 

 “If all my enemies threw a party would you light the candles?” – _My Chemical Romance; Boy Division_  

* * *

“I want in.” Frank thinks he’s just won the lottery; things are going a lot better than he’d planned. He had a bunch of ideas in his head. The only thing he needed was Mikey Way, and he had no idea how to acquire it. Until now.

Inside his head, there’s a party. His face, however, displays nothing but blank confusion. He blinks once and says, “What?” He’s sitting outside all alone in hopes that he might be able to get some peace and quiet; work things out in his head. If this had been anyone else he would have been pissed to all Hell if they interrupted him. But this? He could gladly work with this.

“I. Want. In.” Mikey’s face is red with anger, and Frank actually thinks he can see steam coming out of his ears. Mikey throws his books down on the grass and starts pacing. “My brother thinks he owns everyone and everything!” Frank just nods in agreement because, yes, this is good. Anger is good. “He thinks he can just _take_ whatever he wants and ruin it without any consequences. He thinks he can trick Bill Beckett into stealing my bass, do God-knows-what with it, completely fucking _destroy_ it, and expect me to be okay. _Well I’m not_!”

“I see that.” Frank observes. He gestures to the spot next to him. “Sit. Stay a while. Tell me _everything_.” And it’s fucking ridiculous, and literally impossible, but Frank manages to get the Fat Lady to agree to let in a Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, _and_ Slytherin into the Gryffindor common room—just so long as Frank has them leave before hours.

So there they are; Harry, Ron, Frank, Ray, Bob, Mikey, Pete, and Patrick. They’re sitting in a little clump, whispering and laughing and thinking about how this plan will actually play out.

Bob, naturally, is still pushing his original idea, “I seriously think we should be transfiguring this bitch hardcore.”

“Ew,” Frank says, scrunching up his nose. “Don’t say that ever again. And _no_ we’re not doing it.”

“This is a democracy, not a monarchy.” Bob glares at Frank. “All those in favor?” Harry, Ron, Pete, and Bob all raise their hands. “All those against it?” Patrick, Ray, and Frank raise their hands. “All those… indifferent towards it?” Mikey raises his hand. “That’s still four to three.”

“First of all, Mikey’s a swing-vote. Until he makes a decision, the rat idea is tabled. Second of all, _yes_ this is a monarchy and you’re all gonna shut the fuck up and let me think about it!” Frank didn’t get angry a lot; just kinda pissy and pouty, but not angry, so when he _was_ angry, they all took it seriously.

No one said anything for the next forty-five minutes as Frank stood up, sat down, lay next to the fire, stood up again, started pacing, and basically ripping his hair out of his head over what the _hell_ he was going to do. For forty-five minutes, Frank thought it was all hopeless. Then he saw Patrick studying Charms and everything fell into place in his head. Why didn’t he see it before? This was _so_ much better than the rat idea.

“Guys…” they all turn and look at him—most of them expectant, some of them annoyed, and some of them tired. “I’ve got it.”


	4. Uncomfortable In Your Own Skin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frank takes out his wand and quietly whispers: Facere Anxius.

 

“I’m coming apart at the seams.”

– _Fall Out Boy; Disloyal Order of Water Buffalos_

* * *

Three days before Christmas break. That’s the plan, and the plan was made two weeks ago. It would have been carried out sooner, but Ray and Pete had agreed to help Frank create a new jinx and they had to perfect it (and its counter-curse) before performing it on another student. Frank had, since then, been pushed down the stairs—several times—hung on a great number of things—just by his shoelaces—had his homework set on fire—the hour before it was due—and had a couple of minor curses set on him—one in particular that rendered him incapable of speech right before Snape asked him a question. Yes, he had endured all of that, and now he was just _vibrating_ with the urge to get some sweet, _sweet_ revenge.

That morning, Frank walks down to breakfast with Harry and Hermione; Ron had decided to take the initiative to get downstairs early enough to get all the good bacon before it was gone. Frank doesn’t see the appeal in bacon. He doesn’t eat anything with a face on it, and that’s a quite literal statement seeing as he won’t even eat Chocolate Frogs due to the spell that makes them seem real.

They’re walking slowly and casually, and purposely walking by the Slytherin table. Because Pete is the one who shares a dorm with Gerard, they _were_ going to let him make the first move, but it _is_ Frank who’s getting revenge after so that idea was quickly set aside.

The just before they pass Gerard (who’s sitting in a big group with Gabe, Pete, Travis, and Bert), Frank takes out his wand and quietly whispers: _Facere Anxius_. Gerard stiffened for a moment before going back to just having his regular conversation. Frank put his wand away and kept walking.

 

“Hey, Granger! Tell me what it’s like to feel disgusted with yourself? I mean, being a muggle born and all.” Everyone who’s in Slytherin, that isn’t a muggle born, starts to laugh. Hermione looks like she’s going to cry, and Frank is just so fucking sick and tired of Gerard being an asshole all the time, he just finally cracks.

He turns around quickly, and Hermione tries to stop him. “Frank—”

“No, Hermione. It’s a good question!” Everyone seems shocked by Frank's words. “I mean, I’m sure he’s just curious, seeing as it’s a completely different 'disgusted' than he’s used to.” Then he turns to Gerard, “I’ll tell you if you tell me, Way; what’s it like to be so disgustingly _pathetic_ all the time?” Gerard’s eyes grow wide, and his face gets red, and Frank is ever so curious as to see what he’ll say. It doesn’t matter how offensive it is; Frank cut Gerard _deep_ and everyone knows it.

“I don’t really think you’re one to be defining pathetic, you filthy mudblood.” Everyone, even the Slytherins, is silent with shock at what Gerard said; after a few unfortunate mishaps, Dumbledore strictly forbade _anyone_ to use that word—especially when talking directly to a muggle born. It’s low, and well, it’s pretty pathetic.

Frank was right. He usually is.

What Gerard _does_ know is that he really shouldn’t have said that in front of everyone else. What Gerard _doesn’t_ know is that he just made enemies with everyone aside from most of the Slytherins (who think Gerard’s comment wasn’t bad at all); everyone loves Frankie, and when he’s hurting, _everyone’s_ hurting. It’s happened before. He’s been horribly insulted, and so he’s angry, and he sulks, and his presence is just so strong that everyone around him feels angry and sulks.

“If there wasn’t a table, and several not-so-innocent people between us—” Frank doesn’t finish, but shakes his head and walks away. Just when they’re past the table, Harry trips. All the Slytherins laugh, and Frank helps Harry up; they all know Gabe tripped him. For God’s sake, he wasn’t even _trying_ to hide the fact that his foot was two feet away from where it should have been.

Frank helps Harry up, and as he does, his eye catches Pete’s. His face is conflicted; almost pained. He gestures to Gabe, and Frank nods once before steering Harry and Hermione away. Under the Slytherin table, Pete pulls out his wand, points it at Gabe and whispers: _Facere Anxius_. Gabe stiffens for a second before relaxing a bit and pulling at the collar of his uniform. Pete smiles.

The next time Frank sees Gerard is about five hours later when they’re in Potions class. Frank is good at Potions. And Charms. And Transfiguration. And Care of Magical Creatures. And Divination. But not Herbology; he’s killed his fair share of plants. Also not Astronomy; like, why the fuck does he need to learn about stars anyway? Aside from that, he’s practically Hermione’s soul mate.

Frank smiles with great pleasure when he walks in the room only to see Gerard shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot, pacing in a circle, pulling at the sleeves of his robes and loosening his tie. He pulls at his shirt a little and wipes his sweaty hands on his pants. He blows his hair out of his face and makes a frustrated noise before Snape walks in and says, “Sit down, Mr. Way. Whatever it is you’re complaining about now, I’m sure it can wait.”

Gerard moves very slowly when he goes to sit down, and he stares at his chair for a few seconds before sighing heavily and awkwardly sliding into his seat. Frank—along with the rest of the Gryffindors—snickers and then starts coughing to cover his laugh when Snape looks at him. “Care to share, Mr. Iero?”

“No. Sorry Professor. It’s just a cold.”

The look in Snape’s eye is frightening, and he just raises one eyebrow before saying, “Of course.” and turning to the rest of the class. He gives the instructions for the day, but Frank isn’t really paying attention. He’s too busy smirking at Gerard who keeps moving in his seat and bouncing his knee up and down. When Snape finally sets them loose, Gerard practically falls out of his seat before standing up and making the most awkward move anyone has ever seen; sort of like an arm flailing, but also like he’s jumping up and down on one leg while sticking his tongue out, closing his eyes, and nodding his head.

“Mr. Way!” Snape says. “What is wrong with you?”

“I-I don’t know,” Gerard shakes his leg. “I think… I think someone jinxed me.”

Snape stares at him for a long while, and Gerard starts to shift uncomfortably (but not because of Snape’s stare). Snape says, “Pity.” Before turning and heading towards the door. “Try not to set anything on fire while I’m gone. Wentz! You’re in charge while I’m away.”

Pete turns and smiles at the entire class; they’re smiling back. “Okay… who wants to set some shit on fire?”

That evening Frank will find out that the Professor’s apathy stemmed directly from the fact that Pete told him everything, and that the jinx is nothing more serious that the tickle in your throat that doesn’t go away. Snape seemed indifferent as he told Pete, “I think Way needs to be knocked down a few pegs. He’s such an insufferable nuisance.” Pete leaned forward and said, “Tomorrow it’s a whole different jinx.” Snape laughs humorlessly, and Pete thanks the heavens that he’s such a charismatic person.

For the time being; after Potions, Frank is leaving with Ray when they pass Gerard who’s managing to stay still, but looks miserable. He’s standing with Pete, Travis, Bert, Brian, and Gabe (who looks just as miserable as Gerard does).

Just as they pass, Frank turns and says, “I think there’s a counter-curse for that written on parchment and stuck somewhere in the restricted section of the library. Good luck finding it!” Gerard is staring at him murderously, but Frank winks at him and laughs as he’s walking away.


	5. What Truly Matters Is Strictly Material

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Since he was little. He’d draw on anything he could get to with a marker. Mum hated him for it,” Mikey shrugs, “She had to keep getting the curtains cleaned.”

“Mama, we all go to hell.”

– _My Chemical Romance; Mama_  


* * *

“I don’t know, guys,” Mikey is a little hesitant. “This might actually ruin him. He might actually die.” They’re standing in the corridor outside the Gryffindor common room. They figure it’s okay to plot out in the open if they’re near the one and only place in the school that Gerard will _never_ go. They’re waiting for Pete, who was given a very special mission today, and will carry it out with honor.

“Good,” Frank says, gritting his teeth; he had tried, _really tried_ , to forget what Gerard said, but he couldn’t, and now he wouldn’t care if Gerard went insane and never came back to Hogwarts again. They hear the sound of feet slapping the pavement, and Pete rounds the corner, almost running directly into Patrick.

Patrick makes an _oof_ sound, and he stumbles backwards. Pete’s whole face goes red, and Patrick looks at him with a lightly annoyed expression. Frank and Ray look at each other knowingly and then tune back into the conversation. “I, uh,” he can’t think of anything to say so he just says, “I got it.”

Mikey takes the object in Pete’s hand and carefully holds it to his chest. He looks at Frank and then at Ray, “You guys are _positive_ that this spell will work correctly? I mean, I can always _buy_ a new bass, but this? You can’t exactly get another one of these.”

“That’s why we’re using the spell! So that you _can_ have as many as you want!” Frank makes grabby hands and uses his adorable-but-deadly doe eyes to persuade Mikey to hand it over. Mikey looks a bit regretful for a second, but eventually he holds it out, sighing as he does so. “You’re a saint, Mikeyway.”

Mikey rolls his eyes, but he’s smiling. Frank puts the object on a bench and pulls out his wand. He holds his wand tightly for a second before taking a deep breath and pointing it: _Geminio_.

The object started to tremble, and a second later, a copy of the original was shooting into the air. Frank caught it easily and handed the original to Mikey. “See, I told you it’d be fine.”

Mikey smiles, “Yeah I know; you’re always right.”

“Except for when I’m wrong… then I’m wrong.” Frank smiled and all five boys (Ray, Pete, Patrick, Mikey, and Frank) start towards the Great Hall. Mikey made them all promise that if they _were_ going to pull this one off, they’d have to follow his lead and _not_ open the object under _any_ circumstances!

“So, Mikey,” Ray says, “how long has Gerard, y’know…”

“Since he was little. He’d draw on anything he could get to with a marker. Mum hated him for it,” Mikey shrugs, “She had to keep getting the curtains cleaned.” Frank looked down at the sketchbook and his eyebrows drew together in thought. He gently put it in his rucksack—as did Mikey—and when they round the corner, several things happen at once, completely confusing him.

Patrick falls to the ground, Ray nearly falls over him, and Frank is so distracted that he walks right into Bert McCracken, Mikey drops all of his books, and Pete quickly hides behind the corner so he’s not seen.

Ray helps Patrick to his feet, and Gabe starts to laugh at them. Mikey slowly picks up all his books, and Bert shoves Frank away lightly, but looks like he wants to push Frank to the ground and put his insides on his outsides. Gerard isn’t with them.

“Watch where you’re walking, Iero,” Bert warns, clenching his fists. He nods for Gabe to follow, and they round the corner.

Pete comes out of hiding and the first thing he does, the first thing he _says_ is, “Hey, Trick, are you okay?” He’s standing rather close to Patrick, and he’s holding up his hand like he _wants_ to touch him, but knows he shouldn’t.

“Uh,” Patrick looks extremely confused. His eyes flicker to Ray (who’s smiling smugly) before looking at Pete again and saying, “Never been better, Pete. Uh, thanks for asking… I guess.” Pete’s face is sad and shocked; like he’s a three year old who’s just been told Santa Clause isn’t real. Like his whole world has ended, and in Pete Wentz terms: it has.

“How about we all just go to breakfast, okay?” Frank steers everyone down the hall and thinks to himself, _Jesus Christ…I don’t want a romance_. When they all walk into the Great Hall, things are pretty normal, but something still feels off, and as they pass Slytherin table, Frank and Ray both realize what it is; it is too quiet.

“Pete,” Frank hisses under his breath. “I thought I told you that we scrapped the ‘Silencio’ plan.” The original plan was for them to simply use _Silencio_ against Gerard to keep him quiet, but then Bob said it wasn’t enough punishment so they went with something else. They had completely gotten rid of that idea… or so Frank thought.

“Well,” Pete starts, pulling Frank aside so that they’re not in sight. “I wake up, and the little shit is talking about something he’s planning on doing to you. I couldn’t listen to him one more second so I just kinda… I sneezed, and the spell came out.” Frank shakes his head and laughs before starting to walk away. Pete grabs his arm and says, “I also might have possibly casted the spell on Gabe as well.”

It may not seem clear as to why copying Gerard Way’s sketchbook is important, but Frank can assure anyone that it’s imperative to the overall plan. Mikey took the original and put it in his room, under his pillows. Frank took the copy and… well, he threw it in the Gryffindor fireplace. Before it was done burning, while you could still tell what was on the pages, he took it out and used _Aguamenti_ on it, causing the ink to run—or what was left of it.

He basically destroyed it.

Before today, there was almost no reason to have Bob, Ray, Harry, Ron, Patrick, Pete _and_ Mikey help Frank out, but that was _before_ today. Frank would give the book to Patrick after Herbology, and Patrick would give it to Bob after his free period in the library. Bob would hand it off to Ray, who was the next person to see Pete. Then Pete would place it back in Gerard’s dresser.

Normally Frank would have been able to give it to Pete directly, but Gryffindor house was holding Quidditch tryouts. It’s uncommon for tryouts to happen so late into the year, but due to some illnesses and other unforeseeable circumstances, they had to be done right before Christmas break so that they could start practicing right when they got back to school. Harry—as a friend, Quidditch player, and now Quidditch captain—had been encouraging Frank to try out for the last three years and this was the first year he actually agreed. This was also the first year that Bob wasn’t able to try out (which really sucks seeing as he’s usually the Gryffindor Keeper).

Either way, after the “sketchbook” was put in Gerard’s dresser, and Gerard has found it and had a proper fit over it, Pete would take it to Ron who’d throw it away. Then Mikey would give Harry the original, and Harry would give it to Pete to put in Gerard’s dresser. If everything worked out the way Bob planned, after Gerard found his in-tact and perfectly fine sketchbook, he’d be crazy vulnerable and think he’s imagining things. They needed Gerard to think he was insane in order for the final stage of their plan to work correctly. They needed him on edge. They needed him unhinged.

Later that day the Ravenclaws and Gryffindors have Transfiguration. The lesson focuses strictly on turning inanimate objects into edible substances, and it gives Frank a _great_ idea.

“No but seriously, Mikey. Think about it!” Mikey scrunches up his nose in questioning hesitation before shaking his head.

“I think it’s a great idea, Frank,” he says. “I just don’t want you to get in more trouble than you have to. I mean, if Gerard ever found out?” He shudders, and then he goes back to turning a stop watch into a cookie.

“Oh, I don’t care about that,” Frank shrugs as he turns a book into a cake. “I’m much more ‘social justice’ than I am ‘cunning little bastard’.” They both laugh and then they’re silent for a while.

“So you’re really gonna do it?”

“Why not? I mean, we already learned how… might as well use that spell now while we still remember it.”

“If you’re sure, I’m sure.”

“You’re a saint, Mikeyway.”

“So I’ve been told.” Frank smiles at him. That night at dinner, Frank is sitting at Gryffindor table, staring at Gerard. His eyes flicker to Ravenclaw table—to where Mikey is sitting—and then back again.

“Hey, Ron,” Frank whispers, nudging his friend, “Watch this…” Frank pulls out his wand and just as Gerard takes a bite out of his chicken, Frank waves his wand. The next think they know, Gerard is sputtering and spitting dust everywhere and people—his friends—are laughing. Gerard takes a mouthful of water and swishes it around before spitting out at Bert in retaliation to his laughing. Gerard would normally bitch his friends out about it, but he still hasn’t figured out that Pete put the simplest curse on him, and he can just reverse it easily.

A lot of people, a lot more than originally expected, saw what happened. That included Mikey who ended up laughing pretty obnoxiously about it. What Mikey and Frank don’t know is that as they’re smiling at one another from across the room, Gerard is watching them. He shakes his head, _I don’t know what’s going on with those two, but I don’t fucking like it, that’s for sure!_


	6. You’re Losing Your Mind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Mikey,” Frank looks at him very seriously. “In all actuality, how big is this? I mean, really?” Mikey doesn’t know how to answer the question, so he doesn’t. Just then the mail comes, and in all the confusion, Frank finds himself with a letter in front of him. He picks it up and reads the front, ‘To: Fun Ghoul. From: The Phoenix’.

“Nobody cares if you’re losing yourself; am I losing myself?”

– _My Chemical Romance; You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison_  


* * *

On the third and final day before Christmas break, things get complicated. Frank walks into the Great Hall with one of the fifth-years, Spencer Smith, and when he sees Gerard, his heart stops. He looks absolutely pathetic, and if Frank weren’t so upset with him, he might actually feel bad. Gerard looks like he’d been crying; his eyes are red and void of emotion, and his face is all puffy. He’s not eating anything, looking at anyone, or attempting conversation.

“Hey, Spence?” Frank says, patting his friend on the shoulder, but still looking at Gerard. “I’ll see you later, okay?” He walks as quickly as he can over to where his friends are sitting and when he sits down, his eyes are wide, and he’s not blinking. “Guys this is a problem.”

“I told you.” Frank didn’t even notice that Mikey was sitting directly across from him until he spoke. When he looks up, Mikey’s face is somewhere between sad and frustrated. He’s upset. Very upset.

“Mikey,” Frank looks at him very seriously. “In all actuality, how big is this? I mean, really?” Mikey doesn’t know how to answer the question, so he doesn’t. Just then the mail comes, and in all the confusion, Frank finds himself with a letter in front of him. He picks it up and reads the front, ‘ _To: Fun Ghoul. From: The Phoenix_ ’. Frank smiles and rolls his eyes before opening it.

 

          _Gerard hasn’t seen it yet._

_Still sulking._

_Pretty sad._

_-P_

 

“Hey guys,” Frank says, reading the letter again. “Gerard hasn’t seen his sketchbook yet. He still thinks it’s ruined. _That’s_ why he’s so angry.” Okay, Frank’s conscience can rest easy now. He almost had a heart attack. Frank looks to Mikey to see if everything’s going to be okay, and feels even more relieved when Mikey’s actually smiling.

“Well,” he says, “I guess that means we’re not on his shit-list yet. Not for long, anyways.” They all laugh slightly at that—a little nervously and a little apprehensively, but that’s because the truth of that statement is a bit scary.

“Frank!” They all jump at the sudden and obnoxiously loud sound. Running through the Great Hall is Ron Weasley, waving his hands in the air frantically. When he stops, he’s out of breath, “…seen… I can’t… it’s ridiculous… I don’t…”

Frank laughs, “Breathe, man! Breathe!” he looks at Mikey, who’s laughing as well, and shakes his head. Ron takes a few more seconds, putting his hands on his hips and shaking his head. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” he says, still breathing hard.

“Why are you so out of breath anyways?”

“I ran all the way from the common room!”

“But _why_?!”

Ron blinks, looking at him like he’s an idiot. “Didn’t you see?”

“Uh… no?” At this point Frank notices that they’ve drawn quite a bit of attention to themselves, and feels really uncomfortable about it. Even Gerard’s started to watch what’s happening.

“It’s up! It’s up!” Ron is making crazy gestures with his hands, trying to prompt Frank into understanding just what the fuck he’s talking about.

“Ron, I don’t—”

“Jesus Christ, it’s like you forgot you even tried out! The Quidditch list, Frank!”

“Holy shit!” And before anyone else can get a word in edgewise, Frank is up and running through the hall, closely followed by Ron. When they reach the common room, there’s a huge group of people standing and looking at a piece of paper pinned to the wall. They’re whispering to each other, and when they see Frank they all go quiet.

He goes to read the list and sees that Harry has taken the liberty of naming _all_ the houses and their teams, and underlining the new players

 

Slytherin

Chasers – Pete Wentz, Lyndzey Ballato, Alex Suarez

Beaters – Gabe Saporta [ _captain_ ], Bert McCracken

Keeper – Gerard Way

Seeker – Draco Malfoy

 

Hufflepuff

Chasers –Ryan Ross, Nate Novarro, Alicia Simmons

Beaters – Hayley Williams, Brendon Urie

Keeper – Alex Gaskarth

Seeker – Patrick Stump [ _captain_ ]

 

Ravenclaw

Chasers – Jamia Nestor, Dallon Weekes, Florence Welch

Beaters – William Beckett, Mikey Way

Keeper – Jack Barakat

Seeker – Luna Lovegood [ _captain_ ]

 

** *Gryffindor* **

Chaser – Ginny Weasley, Harry Potter [ _captain_ ], James Dewees

Beaters – Fred Weasley, George Weasley

Keeper – Ron Weasley

Seeker – Frank Iero

 

“What the fuck, Harry?” Frank walks up to Harry after Transfiguration with an extremely confused look on his face. Frank isn’t even _good_ at Quidditch; he just likes to ride his broom for fun. It’s a hobby. He tried out hoping that he wouldn’t get on the team, and now he’s the most important player out there? Oh hell no, that is _not_ okay with him!

“What do you mean?”

“You know what I mean! You’re _always_ Seeker! That’s _your_ _job_!

“Listen, Frank,” Harry sighs. “The position of Seeker is for the fastest and smallest player on the team, okay?”

“So is Chaser! You have Ginny as a Chaser. Why can’t she be Seeker?”

“Because she’s good at what she does, and you’re faster than she is.” Harry shrugs. “You’ll be fine. Brilliant, even! You weren’t able to watch yourself, Frank. You’re nothing more than a blur out there on the field. The Snitch can’t even hope to out-fly you.”

Frank shakes his head, “We’ll talk about this later, Potter. Right now we need to meet up with Pete and head Way off.” The two are practically _running_ down the hall before they run into Pete. Behind Pete, way off in the distance of the corridor, they can see Gerard walking all by himself.

Pete shoves Frank away roughly, “Hey guys.” He says quietly before loudly saying, “What the fuck, Iero?”

Frank whispers, “So what’s the plan here? Red sparks or green?” Then he yells, “Fuck off, Wentz!”

“Personally, I’d go with red,” Harry says. “C’mon Frank. He’s not worth it.” Gerard is closer now, and seems to notice what’s happening between the boys. He stops in his tracks and that’s when Frank pulls out his wand and backs up, pointing it directly at Pete. He waves his wand once, and red sparks shoot out, hitting Pete directly in the chest. It actually looks like it hurts, and Pete falls to the ground.

Gerard, seeing an opportunity to completely fucking _destroy_ Frank Iero—Dumbledore’s second ideal ‘perfect’ student—turns and runs. He’s going up to tell on Frank and Frank can’t believe this plan is actually working. Once Gerard is gone, Frank holds his hand out to Pete. “Hey man, you okay? Looks like it hurt.”

“Like a bitch,” Pete grits out, rubbing his chest. “I’ll be fine. Hey you guys better go back to the common room and leave me to get to the dungeons.” Harry nods and then pulls Frank down the hall, back the way they came.

Gerard must run fast, because the second they’re about to say the password, the door opens, and McGonagall steps out. “Professor Dumbledore would like to see you both.” Her face is disproving, and Frank does his best to look ashamed.

“You said you wanted to see me Professor?” Pete peeks his head in the door. He sees Frank and Harry standing across from Gerard and then comes in, shutting the door behind him.

“Ah, yes,” Dumbledore says. “Mr. Wentz, come in. I have been informed by Mr. Way that earlier in the day, Mr. Iero drew his wand and cursed you. Is that correct?”

“No.” Pete shakes his head.

“Yes it did! I saw it! In the hall!” Gerard looks crazy; legit, up the wazoo, fucking nutcase crazy.

“That didn’t happen. You’re crazy.”

“Well, if there are no more discrepancies in the story, you may all leave.” Gerard doesn’t even open his mouth to retaliate. He just follows Pete, Frank, and Harry out of the office and down the stairs.

When they reach the point where one hall leads to the dungeons and the other leads to Gryffindor common room, they all stop, and Frank looks at Gerard. “Keep your mind in check, Way. Don’t want people to think you’re going crazy, do you?” He smiles, “Happy Christmas. You too, Pete.”

Pete holds up his hand, and Frank high-fives him; Gerard is staring at them like they’re aliens and he’s a conspiracy theorist. They’re smiling at each other as they start to part ways, leaving Gerard on his own. “See ya later!” Pete says, “Oh, make sure to text me over break to see if our, er, ideas get any further!”

Gerard thinks he’s ready to kill everyone.


	7. There’s No Place Like Home For the Holidays

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ten minutes into drawing, he tunes into what he’s doing and makes a frustrated sound; he’s drawn Frank.

 

“If you pine for the sunshine of a friendly gaze; for the holidays you can’t be home sweet home!”

– _Al Stillman; Home for the Holidays_

* * *

‘ _HAPPY CHRISTMAS, GERARD WAY!_ ’ It’s a letter that came with a package, and it has no return address. It’s Christmas break. He’s sitting in his room, staring at the small silver parcel with the green ribbon tied around it. Obviously it’s from someone who knows him, because otherwise they wouldn’t have wrapped it in Slytherin house colours. However, due to recent events, he’s starting to question everything that he comes into contact with. Should he open it? It couldn’t hurt to just open it, right?

He reaches out one shaky hand, but before he touches it, he hesitates. Well, there actually _could_ be some harm in just opening it. What if it was bewitched? Okay, now _that_ sounds crazy. He shakes his head and grabs the small present. He pulls off the bow and rips off the silver packaging.

It’s a black box with a green lid. Letting his curiosity get the better of him, he opens the box, and inside is a silver chain with a silver skull and crossbones no bigger than the size of a quarter. Where the eyes would be, there are two tiny emeralds.

He honestly doesn’t know how to feel about this gesture of kindness from whoever it may be. He pulls it out and holds it, his brows furrowing; he likes it, there’s no doubt about that. He just doesn’t know if he should keep it. But it _was_ a present after all, and his parents taught him to always cherish presents no matter the circumstances; it was one of the only lessons his parents taught him that he found useful. Nonetheless, he puts the chain around his neck, and hides the skull beneath his shirt.

Gerard lets his mind wander. He thinks about school, and his friends, and then he starts to think about… well, he starts to think about Frank. He doesn’t _want_ to think about Frank; he’s pissed the fuck off at him. However, it just kinda happened. He’s not even thinking about the pranks. He’s thinking about _Frank_ and only Frank. He feels his face get red, and curses the higher power that did this to him. Gerard doesn’t like having Frank on his mind, but he just won’t go away.

All day he won’t go away. Gerard pulls out his sketchbook (his perfectly fucking fine sketchbook) and tries to pull his mind away from He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named (and he’s not talking about Voldemort). Ten minutes into drawing, he tunes into what he’s doing and makes a frustrated sound; he’s drawn Frank.

Frank is smiling the way he does when he’s around Harry or Ray or Patrick. It’s the same smile, he remembers, that Frank gave Pete after their talk in Dumbledore’s office. That doesn’t make any sense. Why would Frank be giving Pete a smile of familiarity and wanting? Although, Gerard does suspect that he’s not crazy and Pete, Harry, and Frank were all in on the ‘spell’ business.

Gerard looks down at his paper again, and notices the way he’s drawn Frank. He’s walking down the hall all alone and looking straight ahead. Huh, that’s weird. Gerard doesn’t draw things that have never happened; he only draws from memory. Suddenly he gets all flustered when he realizes that the smile on Frank’s face—the smile that he only gives to people he cares about—is directed at _him_. But that can’t be right! Frank wouldn’t smile at him!

He decides he doesn’t want to think about it anymore, and puts the sketchbook away. He looks at the clock and is surprised to see that four hours have passed since he’s gotten the necklace. He’s spent four straight hours thinking about a boy who doesn’t like him, and who he doesn’t like. He’s spent four straight hours feeling… actually he’s spent four hours feeling at peace. When he thinks of Frank he doesn’t get angry or stressed out like he should be. No, it’s just this strange sort of calmness he’s never felt before.

And it scares him.

That night, he’s at dinner with his parents and Mikey. They’re just talking about life and how things have been going at school when Gerard, for some odd reason, says, “Three days ago, somebody started to pull pranks on me. I suspect it’s this kid Frank. It’s rather clever, actually.”

“Oh really?” His mother sounds interested.

“He’s a natural-born Slytherin. I don’t know why he’s in Gryffindor.”

It’s his dad who speaks, “Well, is he a pureblood?”

“No he’s a mud – muggle born.” His face gets red, and Mikey gives him a weird look. Gerard makes a face back and then looks down at his food.

“That must be why. They don’t let just anyone into Slytherin! There are standards!” He hated when his parents started to talk about blood status; they were so passionate about it, and he just didn’t care. Well, he cared because he was raised that way, but when he was at home, he couldn’t give less of a shit if he tried.

“Voldemort was a half-blood.” He says, not looking up.

“Don’t say that name in my house!” His mother yells at him. “Besides… that hardly matters.”

“Are either of you friends with this boy? Michael, I wouldn’t be surprised if you were.” His father asks, ignoring the tension caused by Gerard blatantly mentioning Voldemort in the house of two wanna-be death eaters.

Mikey shrugs. “I’ve talked to him a few times. We were both civil. I don’t know why Slytherins have to whip their wands out every time there’s a pissing contest.”

“That’s how the world works, Mikes.” Gerard sighs.

“It’s stupid. I don’t know why I can’t have muggle born friends.”

His mom answers, “Because they’re not worthy of pureblood company.” _Ouch_ , Gerard thinks. _Who put the stick up her ass today?_ He can also see the anger rising inside of his brother, and knows he’s about to explode.

“Well I know a good number of purebloods who I don’t think are worthy of any company. Goodnight, and Happy Christmas.” He gets up and stalks out of the room, leaving his parents aghast, and leaving Gerard feeling guilty.

An hour later, when Mikey’s in the shower, Gerard finds his iPhone in the living room; he’s got a text from an unknown number. Gerard looks around to see if his parents are watching or if, for some odd reason, Mikey had gotten out of the shower. He doesn’t see anyone so he opens the message.

 

 _Is there anything else_?

 

It doesn’t make any sense to him, so he reads the text above it.

 

_Frank apologized… kinda._

_I don’t know. It was a nice gesture._

_He felt bad_.


	8. Haunts Like a Ghost, Hurts Like a Memory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was a few minutes before someone said something. “So how long have you been friends with Frank?” Mikey could tell, even if Gerard couldn’t, that Gerard was just looking for an excuse to talk about Frank.
> 
> He smiles slightly, “About a month, give or take a few days.”
> 
> “You guys seem close.” There’s a darkness in his voice; it’s something Mikey hasn’t witnessed Gerard display before. Jealously.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I COMPLETELY FORGOT TO UPLOAD THIS CHAPTER I'M SO SORRY DON'T HATE ME!

 

“When you’re alone do you think of me and my diamond rings thrown out to sea?

And when you love, do you love for me? Like harmony; a never ending dream.”

– _Mayday Parade; Oh Well, Oh Well_

* * *

It’s been eight days since Gerard read that text. He doesn’t know what it means, and he’s trying to piece it all together—the text, the pranks, the necklace—but he just can’t. He _can_ , however, think about Frank 24 hours a day. He just keeps thinking about Frank… he keeps _talking_ about Frank. Mikey’s getting a bit amused with how much he’s taking interest in this boy who he claims that he doesn’t like at all. Gerard is embarrassed.

At dinner that night, their parents are talking about _something_ that doesn’t interest Gerard or Mikey until they hear their dad say, “The Ministry is placing a full inquiry! I think they should.”

“Who are we talking about?” Gerard asks half scared to hear the answer.

His mother turns to him, “One of the new fellows down in the Department of Mysteries.”

His father nods his head, “Yeah, he lost one of the prophecies.”

Mikey’s brows furrow, “Isn’t that impossible? Can’t, like, only the person in the prophecy go and get it?”

It’s silent for a second before their father answers, “He must’ve used the Cruciatus curse, which is even more horrible since it’s about his best friend.”

Their mother scoffed, “His best friend who’s muggle born.”

“Then perhaps the Cruciatus curse was needed?”

Mikey looks at him incredulously, “It’s. Illegal.”

Their mother protests, “A wizard being born of a muggle should be illegal, but it’s not!” He thought he could make it through the dinner without having the urge to kill all of them, but he was wrong. Is this how Mikey felt all the time? Gerard would have to apologize. “Can we not talk about this?” He asks quietly.

His mother is concerned, “What’s wrong, Gerard?”

“Nothing! Just… can we not? Please?”

“Well, okay I guess.” A second later—and figuring that this was a totally unrelated topic (which it fucking wasn’t!)—she says, “Oh, speaking of muggle borns! Gerard, are you going to do anything about that boy who played those pranks on you?”

He rolls his eyes and shrugs, “I didn’t plan on it.”

She shakes her head, “You should. Muggle borns picking on purebloods? It’s not right.” Oh God, Gerard was about to explode. “They’re nothing but filth. Should be the other way around, if you ask me!”

He slams his fist on the table, “Well, no one did! Goddamnit can’t we ever just—” He sits there a second before getting up and leaving. This vacation was going to end splendidly, wasn’t it?

When he reaches the top of the stairs, and starts down the hall, he passes Mikey’s room. Right as he’s about to turn the corner he hears a familiar sound; Mikey has received a text message. He backtracks, quietly enters the room, steals the phone off Mikey’s bed, and then sneaks out.

He doesn’t take it out of his pocket until he’s sitting on his own bed. He unlocks the phone, and sees that this message is from someone Gerard has never heard of. ‘Fun Ghoul’? What or who is that? His brows furrow as he opens the message:

 

          _I don’t know, Mikey._

          _Gerard seems like he’s_

          _got a pretty big stick up_

          _his ass_.

 

Gerard’s jaw drops in shock. Who the fuck would say that about him?! He scrolls all the way up, and starts from the beginning of the conversation.

 

           _Hey._

 

 _Hi_.

 

           _So what’s new in the Way family?_

           _Or is it always kinda the same;_

           _a bunch of stuck-up assholes?_

_It’s the same… Gerard_

_talks about you._

_A lot._

 

           _Ugh, good for him._

 

_Actually, yes._

_Good for him!_

_This is new for him._

_I think he likes you._

 

           _You don’t know anything_

           _Mikeyway._

 

_I know my brother._

 

           _He hates me (and with_

           _good reason)._

 

 _No. Gerard_ hates _potions class._

 _He_ hates _dropping his sketchbook_

 _in a puddle. He doesn’t_ hate

_anyone. He just picks on them. In_

_fact, you’re basically the only_

_person he’s picked on, if you_

_didn’t notice._

 

           _But, I mean… Gerard_

           can’t _like me. He doesn’t_

           _like anyone. And doesn’t_

           _he pick on you?!_

 

_Hmm… that’s true he’s never_

_liked someone before. He’s_

_never been impressed with_

_someone before you. But I’m_

_his brother. He has to pick on_

_me. It’s like, sibling law or_

_something._

 

           _How is it that I find that_

           _hard to believe?_

 

_No really! He thinks you should_

_be in Slytherin because you’re_

_so cunning and skillful. If only he_

_knew you used your resources_

_pretty well._

 

           _Ha, yeah. You and Pete?_

           _Definitely my best resources_

           _for getting close to Gerard_

           _Way._

 

_I’d say so. Oh, hey, I think_

_you should tell Gerard who_

_sent him the Christmas_

_present. He really likes it._

 

           _Like he’d want to know_.

 

_He may be an egotistical_

_asshole but he knows when_

_to appreciate someone_.

 

           _Why don’t you say you_

           _sent it to him?_

 

 _You think he’d believe_ that _?!_

_Gerard knows I can’t stand_

_him, especially after breaking_

_my bass. Seriously. Tell him._

_He’d thank you_.

 

           _I don’t know, Mikey._

           _Gerard seems like he’s_

           _got a pretty big stick up_

           _his ass_.

 

After he’s finished reading, Gerard sits there for a good ten minutes, just staring at the phone. What the hell did he just read? Judging on pure context clues, he can guess that Mikey’s talking to Frank, but why would Mikey say something like that? He does _not_ like Frank Iero!

Doesn’t he? It – it only makes sense. There’s no way he could like Frank! He’s a – he’s a mudblood! Well, what does that have to do with anything? Why the fuck should blood status matter anyway? Whoa! When did Gerard start thinking that way?

 _When you started liking him?_ Gerard told himself to shut up. He doesn’t like Frank. He can’t. It doesn’t matter that Gerard can’t stop thinking about him. It doesn’t matter that Gerard can’t stop thinking about his smile, or how adorably tiny he is, or how different he is. It doesn’t matter that Frank is everything Gerard finds interesting and attractive, and a lot more he didn’t know he found interesting or attractive. It doesn’t even matter that Frank is a guy! Gerard’s known for some time now that he’s bisexual.

What matters is that somewhere along the line, Gerard started to notice him. From the time they were first years until now, when Gerard first saw Frank, to the first time he pushed Frank down the stairs, to today when he felt something other than confusion towards him… something changed. What matters is that Gerard started to like him.

What matters is that Gerard started to care… and that was what scared him the most. That’s what scared him more than anything else in the world.

It was later that night that Mikey came knocking on Gerard’s door. When he came in, he saw Gerard and smiled sadly; he was curled up on his bed, his knees drawn to his chest, and he was examining his anonymous Christmas present. He looked so lost, that Mikey decided he deserved some help.

Gerard looked at Mikey, then held something out to him. “Here’s your phone.”

Mikey sat on the end of his bed and crossed his legs. “Thanks.”

It was a few minutes before someone said something. “So how long have you been friends with Frank?” Mikey could tell, even if Gerard couldn’t, that Gerard was just looking for an excuse to talk about Frank.

He smiles slightly, “About a month, give or take a few days.”

“You guys seem close.” There’s a darkness in his voice; it’s something Mikey hasn’t witnessed Gerard display before. Jealously.

“We have to be.” Mikey shrugs. “We have something in common.”Gerard snorts, “What’s that? That I pick on both of you?”

Mikey smirks, “No. Deep down you secretly love both of us.”

Gerard sits up and looks at Mikey very seriously, “I have to love you because we’re related. I do _not_ love Frank Iero.”

Mikey isn’t intimidated, “Not consciously you don’t.”

Gerard makes a frustrated noise, “Shut up, Mikey!”

“Think about it. You talk about him all the fucking time.”

“I always talk about things that annoy me!”

Mikey holds up his hands defensively, “Whatever you say.”

“I do!”

Mikey stands up and starts towards the door, “I’m not denying it.”

Gerard points at him accusatorially, “Yes you are!”

Mikey stops when he reaches the door, and turns around, “Am I?”

After a second Gerard says, “Yes!”

Mikey is giving him a knowing look, “Are you?”

“…I-I don’t know.”


	9. Actions And Their Consequences

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “It’s called The Mirror of Erised.”

“I hope you fall into the ocean, and the current leaves you helpless – swimming around till the waves crash over you until you drown.”

- _Mayday Parade; A Shot Across the Bow_  


* * *

“ _Expelliarmus!_ ”

“ _Stupefy!_ ”

“ _Impedimenta!_ ” Spells and minor jinxes were flying left and right. It’s a very long and difficult story, but when it comes down to it, Frank had decided he’d had enough. He could just feel the anger rising up within him, and he gets a bit dangerous when he’s angry. There was one spell in particular that Frank had been working on with Professor Snape, and now would just be the perfect time to try it out.

“ _Legili_ —” The next thing Frank knew, his wand was flying out of his hands. It wasn’t just Frank either; Gerard was holding his wand out to block Frank’s spell, and then it was flying through the air. The two boys looked to where the spell came from, and their blood ran cold.

“Mr. Iero. Mr. Way.”

“Professor.” Frank nods towards Professor McGonagall and then looks down at his feet. _Shit_. Fighting with Gerard was definitely something that happened out of the blue, but getting caught was not something they’d planned on.

“If you two would be so kind as to follow me please.” They didn’t have a choice. She was just being nice about it because she knew the punishment for their actions would be severe. They shoot each other dirty looks, but they don’t say anything to each other. They walk the stairs with shame and step into Dumbledore’s office hesitantly.

“Hello Mr. Way. Lovely afternoon, isn’t it Mr. Iero?” Dumbledore isn’t looking at them, but down at a piece of paper in his hands. When Frank doesn’t answer, he looks up questioningly. Frank shifts under his gaze. “Are you alright Mr. Iero?”

“Y-yes, sir.” Frank’s breathing is shallow and he feels a bit light headed.

“You’re positive?”

Frank smiles at him painfully—more of a grimace, “Absolutely.”

“Well then,” he sets down his paper and stands up. “I would greatly appreciate it if either of you could explain to me why you are standing in my office.” Both Frank and Gerard start talking at once, and Dumbledore holds up his hand to stop them. “I am not interested in who started it. I would like a simple answer please.”

Frank takes a deep breath, “Magic.”

“Precisely. There is no reason that justifies the use of unwarranted magic.” He doesn’t sound upset, just informative. It’s like he’s telling them that ‘2 + 2 = 4’; like they should already know, but he’ll clarify just in case. “Violence is not tolerated at Hogwarts. To see such behaviour from two prefects is astonishing. Therefore I am issuing you both two weeks of detention in the hopes that you will come to realize the consequences of your actions.”

“Yes sir,” they say in unison. They’re then dismissed from his office and both of them let out a breath they hadn’t know they’d been holding. They look at each other with wide eyes and then, for some reason, they start laughing. They’re not even upset about it; actually, they’re fucking glad that all Dumbledore is giving them is only two fucking week of detention! It could have been ten times worse.

“You’ve got to be shitting me right now.” Turns out that it actually is ten times worse than just two weeks of detention. Oh it’s two weeks of detention all right… in the fucking Room of Reformation! Never heard of it before? Neither had Frank or Gerard until they were fucking forced to live there! It was a room where the school puts quarreling students in the hopes that living together would provoke friendship. Gerard thinks it’ll definitely provoke something, but he’s not sure it’ll be friendly.

Frank and Gerard, who are standing side by side, turn to each other with horrified looks on their faces. “No,” they say in unison before shaking their heads and looking around. It was like a regular common room with couches and a fire place, but the only difference was that upstairs was only one dorm with two beds—both a nice bit bigger than the typical beds so that was a plus.

Gerard opens his mouth, “This is—”

“Fucked up.” Frank finishes. “I know.”

“Snape says we’re only allowed out for classes and Quidditch.”

“Fuck that,” Frank murmurs. “I am so done.” They spend the first ten minutes just standing there and hoping their situation would get better; it didn’t. After that they went upstairs only to find that all of their stuff was already up there.

That night, the two of them are lying on their beds, not talking, and not sleeping. Finally Frank couldn’t take the silence. “How long do you think it’ll take for us to finally kill each other?”

“Hmm,” Gerard taps his chin. _Never?_ But he doesn’t say that. “I give it two days.”

“I was going to say three,” Frank shrugs. “I suppose you’re probably right.” They’re both quiet again. They’re both thinking of something to say, but they’re not sure if they should say it.

“I know it was you.”

Frank is confused, “What?”

“I know you did all that shit before break.” Frank’s heart starts to beat a thousand miles per second and holy shit he’s going to die. He didn’t want Gerard to ever really find out, and if he did, he didn’t want to have to stay in the same fucking room with him for two weeks straight.

“Yeah, about that—”

“It was impressive.” _That_ shocks Frank; what the actual fuck? So that means Mikey… _wasn’t_ lying? That’s insane; but seriously, did Gerard just compliment him? _Him_? Frank Iero: Mudblood. Gerard jus complimented him. Someone call the Prime Minster! “Impressive, yes. If you ever do it again I’ll kill you.”

“Uh…” And neither of them says anything for the rest of the night. The next day Gerard receives a letter at breakfast; it’s not signed from anyone so naturally Gerard knows it’s from Mikey.

 

 _Find me tonight after hours. The Room of Requirement_.

 

All day Gerard is trying to figure out why Mikey would want to meet with him? They’re usually fighting all the time. This must be a reason for Mikey to yell at him. Either way, he figures he should indulge his brother and that night he heads out to meet Mikey on the seventh floor, left corridor. A door materializes from the wall, and Gerard cautiously goes inside.

Inside he finds an empty room with a tall, old, rusty mirror. Mikey’s standing in front of the mirror, and doesn’t turn around when he hears Gerard come in.

“What… is that?” Gerard asks.

“It’s a mirror.”

“I _know_ that, Mikey. I can see myself in it.” Gerard walks up behind Mikey and looks in it.

Mikey gives him a sidelong glance, “Do you see anything else in it?”

His brows furrow, “No… why would I?”

“This is Hogwarts.”

Gerard rolls his eyes, “Okay, but you still never answered me. What is it?”

“It’s called The Mirror of Erised.”

Gerard walks around it, examining it carefully. It doesn’t look like anything other than an ancient mirror. Maybe it is magical somehow? But if it is, Gerard can’t see it. He stops next to the mirror and touches it, “How did you find it?”

“Harry told me about it.”

Gerard makes a gagging sound and gross face, “Oh God.”

Mikey glares at him, “Shut up, he’s a good person.”

He rolls his eyes, “Whatever. What does it do?”

Mikey looks like he’s reciting something that took him years to memorize. “It shows you nothing more than your hearts deepest desire.” He nods in affirmation.

Gerard scrutinizes him, “How do you even know that?”

“See that inscription up there?” Mikey points to the words written above the mirror. _Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi_. It looks like it’s written in Latin, but Gerard knows—for a fact—that _none_ of those words are Latin.

“What does it mean?”

Mikey walks up to him and points at it, “If you write it backwards—reverse it like a mirror—and rearrange the spaces, it says ‘I show not your face but your heart’s desire’.”

He had a sneaking suspicion about where this conversation was going, but he wasn’t completely sure. He really hoped he was wrong. “So?”

“So I want you to look in it, _really_ look in it.”

Gerard backs up a few feet and looks at him suspiciously. He nods to the mirror, “You first. What do _you_ see?”

Mikey sighs in frustration, but goes to stand in front of the mirror anyways. He stands there for a few seconds before he says, “I see mom and dad. I see you and me. I see Frank and Patrick, and Pete, and Ray, and Bob. We’re all together, and no one’s angry.”

At the mere _mention_ of Frank’s name, Gerard is feeling nervous. “W-why them?”

Mikey looks at him and shrugs, “Some of them are half bloods. Some are muggle born. Some are purebloods. But none of them are Slytherins.”

“So… you want mom and dad—”

Mikey looks deadly serious, “All three of you. I want you to accept me, and accept my friends.”

The words are like knives in Gerard’s chest; all he’s ever wanted was to get along with Mikey. It’s never worked out for him; not the way he wanted, “Mikey—”

But Mikey cuts him off, “Now you. Stand here and look.” He’s hesitant at first, but then he slowly moves to stand where Mikey is. Mikey moves away and looks at him expectantly.  A second later Gerard says, “I don’t see anything.”

“Wait.” Mikey holds up a finger.

Gerard’s breath catches in his throat and his heart stops for a second. That’s impossible. That doesn’t mean any sense at all. That’s not… it doesn’t—why? He looks at Mikey, “I-I don’t underst—”

Mikey shakes his head and smiles sadly, “You don’t have to tell me. I just wanted _you_ to know.”


	10. True Love’s Amiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gerard looks like he wants to laugh, “You tried out for the Quidditch team?”
> 
> “Yeah.” Frank scoffs, “So did you. Can’t be that hard.”
> 
> Gerard glares at him, “I've been on the team since my third year.”
> 
> Frank is silent for a moment, and he looks as if he’s trying to remember something important before asking (genuinely asking), “And you’re a what?”

“You need to lower your standards, because it’s never getting any better than this.”

– _Fall Out Boy; Rat a Tat_  


* * *

Gerard immediately goes to bed after coming back from meeting with Mikey. He’s exhausted and a bit loopy so when he wakes up the next morning all flushed and sweaty, he’s not really surprised. Actually, he’s quite surprised, but he doesn’t really want to think on it for one fucking second longer than he has to. He avoids Frank and practically fucking _runs_ to the bathroom.

He gets in the shower and slumps against the wall. He doesn’t want to. He really fucking doesn’t want to, but it can’t hurt anything to indulge in teenage hormones and wet dream fantasies just this once, right? He knows how wrong he is, but this feeling; this knowledge… it’s too concrete to be ignored.

He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes, letting his head fall back against the cool tile. The only sound he can hear is the water hitting the floor, and his blood rushing in his ears. _Just do it, Gerard_. He swallows hard and opens his eyes. He’s afraid to do it; he’s afraid of what it might start. He’s afraid he won’t be able to stop.

He thinks about the dream he had last night and groans.

This is too much.

 _Too_ _much_. He hisses when he feels his body acting of its own accord; his hand instinctively closing around his dick. This has never happened to him before. He’s never thought of someone while jacking off, especially not someone he knows. Frank’s different somehow.

After the Mirror of Erised all he could think about—if he wasn’t already completely occupied with this thought—was Frank. As his hand began to move, his thoughts grew more incoherent; more disconnected. He was reliving his dream.

Skin, and sweat, and desire, and passion, and lust, and love and… and he’s coming. He’s coming fast, and he’s coming hard. He feels all the air rush out of his lungs, and the sweat drip down his forehead.

“Fuck,” he mutters. He curses himself to all Hell and reminds himself that this doesn’t change _anything_. Except that it does. It changes everything.

That day, during Potions, Gerard is having a tough time concentrating. He’s sitting behind Frank and he can’t stop _staring_ ; it’s getting a bit annoying actually. During that class period, he manages to completely destroy two caldrons and waste seven vials of Eye-Of-Newt.

Snape is ready to expel him for destruction of property, but Pete saves his life (and possibly ruins it) by suggesting, “I think he just needs a tutor.”

“Who do you imagine would want to tutor Way, seeing as I’m not the only person who’s trying to avoid him?” Damn. Snape could be harsh.

“Isn’t Frank the best student in this class?” Gerard looks at Pete with murderous eyes and starts to shake his head. _You are fucking going_ down, _Wentz_. But Pete just smiles back.

“Good idea, Mr. Wentz,” Snape nods to Pete and then turns to Gerard. “And how convenient that the both of you are spending so much free time together. Iero!” He calls Frank over. “After our lesson tonight, I’d like you to help Mr. Way get his head on straight. We don’t want him failing now, do we?”  He didn’t wait for an answer, but just walked away.

Frank’s just as upset as Gerard, but immediately turns to Pete, “This is your fault isn’t it?”

“I’m not the one blowing shit up, Frank.” Pete holds his hands up defensively.

“Harry. Hermione. Fucking _Patrick_!” Frank throws his hands up in exasperation. “They’re all as good, if not better, than I am!”

“But you two get along so well.” Gerard and Frank exchange glances before looking at Pete. “Think of it this way; what else are you going to bond over?” Okay they couldn’t deny Pete that one. What else _were_ they going to bond over? Blood-status preferences? Oh, fuck no!

That afternoon, when they’re back in the Room of Reformation for lunch (because they have to fucking _eat_ there too), Frank is surprised to find another occupant of their living space.

“What the fuck is that?” He’s pointing to an animal that looks like a rather big cat. The cat is stretched on its back, purring happily.

“He’s a Kneazle.”

“You have a Kneazle?”

“Yeah,” Gerard shrugs from his spot on the couch and keeps flipping through his Charms book.  “I named him Beelzebub. Don’t be surprised if he doesn’t like you.”

“Am I _not_ supposed to take offense to that?” Gerard doesn’t reply though. Frank cautiously makes his way over to the cat who, upon spotting Frank, has rolled into its stomach and is sitting in a crouch, watching him carefully.

Frank reaches out his hand and the Beelzebub comes forward to sniff it tentatively. Kneazles are smart cat-like creatures that can tell who is a trustworthy person, and who isn’t. Gerard is hoping, with all his might, that Beelzebub doesn’t like Frank. Naturally he has no such luck because a second later he hears Frank saying, “Beelzebub is pretty fucking badass.” He looks up to find his cat perched on one of Frank’s shoulders as Frank stares into his lap, fiddling with something.

Gerard frowns, but doesn’t say anything. After lunch, neither Gerard nor Frank has classes, but Frank does have a lesson with Snape and then Quidditch practice. As he’s about to leave he spots Gerard smirking at him. “What are you so smug about?”

Gerard looks like he wants to laugh, “ _You_ tried out for the _Quidditch_ _team_?”

“Yeah.” Frank scoffs, “So did you. Can’t be that hard.”

Gerard glares at him, “I’ve been on the team since my third year.”

Frank is silent for a moment, and he looks as if he’s trying to remember something important before asking (genuinely asking), “And you’re a what?”

Gerard’s jaw drops, “Are you kidding me? I’m a Keeper, how could you not know that?” The way he phrased the sentence made him blush, but Frank doesn’t notice.

“I don’t go to sporting events, Gerard.” Frank says it like it should be obvious, “I’m into the scene, not the green.”

“Then why did you try out for Quidditch?” Now Gerard was just insulting his intelligence. _He’s such a fucking prick._

“Harry asked me to.” Frank says indignantly. “He said I’m a good flyer.”

“Ha,” Gerard laughs (more like sneers), “Define ‘good’.”

“Better than you.”

“I highly doubt that! What’d you get? Second string Chaser?”

“No.”

Gerard’s brows furrow, “Second string Keeper?”

“ _No._ ”

“Second string—”

Frank interrupts him, “I’m not on the second string!” _God he’s thick_. “I’m on the actual team, okay?” _As a matter of fact I’m the new Gryffindor Seeker_. He wants to add that, but he doesn’t; Gerard isn’t worth his time.

“I don’t believe you.” Gerard scoffs before turning back to his Charms book.

Frank shrugs casually, “Then don’t.” He heads towards the door, but stops before he leaves, “We’re going to kick your ass on Saturday.”

Gerard looks up and glares at him, “You wish.”

“I don’t wish. I don’t believe in luck.”

“Don’t believe in luck? That’s bullshit.”

Frank shrugs, “I don’t believe in luck or coincidence.”

“Then what do you believe in?”

“People.”

Gerard looks disbelieving, “That’s a pretty shitty thing to put your faith in.”

“Well humans are pretty shitty creatures, but I don’t understand believing in something you can’t see or feel.” And then he finally leaves, cursing Gerard to all Hell for making him late. Professor Snape’s gonna kill him.

What seems like _days_ later, Frank finally walks in. He’s sweaty, and his hair is sticking to his forehead and up in different directions. He’s pretty beat up too; Harry wouldn’t let him have it easy. They only have two days before their first game. They don’t have time to sit there and teach Frank _everything_. He’ll just have to pick it up as he goes.

When Gerard sees him, he stands up, wide-eyed and horrified, and quickly runs to their dorm. Frank stares after him with a confused expression, but he figures that Gerard is always annoying and difficult to understand. Why should this be an exception? He just shrugs and drops his gear off before turning right around and walking out again. The best thing about this room is that it’s got its own bathroom, but it’s also twenty fucking feet away from the prefects’ bathroom.

Frank could go for a nice swim right about now. Meanwhile, Gerard is upstairs, pacing back and forth and just _thinking_ about how hard it’ll hurt to be damned _that far_ into Hell; if there was one thing that Gerard always found irresistible—a bit of a fetish actually—it’s dirty, sweaty men. The fact that Frank is… well, Frank!? Yeah, that’s not helping. But he doesn’t have time for this, so he wills down his semi-hard on and takes a deep breath.

When Frank comes out of the shower, he joins Gerard on the couch, and Gerard tells him that he has a letter from Mikey. Frank takes it cautiously, and when he opens it, it just says:

 

 _Tell him. Tell him everything_.

 

He sighs and sets it down on the table. He pulls out his wand: _Incendio_. The two of them watch it burn, and Gerard gives Frank a sidelong glance. “What’d it say?”

Frank shakes his head; the last thing he needs is to confess maybe-not-even-there feelings for Gerard Way. Well, he _knows_ they’re there… he’s just denying it as long as possible. Mikey seems to be doing everything in his power to speed up that process. “Mikey’s being stupid.”

Gerard nods, “He sent me a pretty stupid letter too.”

Frank doesn’t look at him, “What’d it say?”

He can feel Gerard shrug, “Just… something I should tell someone.”

And Frank—because he’s a fucking idiot—doesn’t even put two and two together. He just lets his instincts take over and shifts his position so he’s looking at Gerard. His eyes are bright, “Ooo, sounds interesting. Is it a girl?”

Gerard is completely and utterly shocked. What should he say? What the _actual_ _fuck_ should he say? He’s not really sure, but Frank is being civil towards him right now so he’s not going to kill the conversation. Besides, he gets this dumb, girly little flip in his stomach when he sees Frank smile, “Uh, yeah. I guess it is.”

Frank nods and folds his hands together. “Mhmm. And are you having troubles telling this girl you like her?”

Gerard thinks on it for a second, “You could definitely put it that way.”

Frank starts bouncing up and down, “Lemme help!”

Gerard looks at him in shock—almost horror. “What?!”

“I’m good at this kind of stuff.”

“You don’t really want to know.”

Frank scoffs, “Oh please. Just _tell_ _me_.”

Hey… Gerard thinks this might not be a bad idea after all. Think about it; he does what Mikey tells him to (he tells Frank how he feels) but he doesn’t have to actually confess feelings for _Frank_. It’s his feelings for this imaginary girl that is identical to Frank and doesn’t actually exist.

Gerard copies Frank’s earlier actions, and turns to face him.  “Okay well… I don’t know where to start.”

“Tell me about her.”

“About her?”

“What’s she like?”

Oh man, it’s going to feel fucking strange to get out all of his emotions. All of these words; all these words he wants Frank to own. “She’s amazing. Incredible, really. She’s unique, y’know? Doesn’t listen to anyone else’s opinion. Isn’t afraid to be herself. And she’s _so_ beautiful. Hands down the most beautiful person I’ve ever met.”

Frank nods, “Mhmm… How do you feel about her?”

“I – I don’t know.”

“Well would you give her your coat? Would you kiss her goodnight? All that mushy stuff… I’m not really into it, personally.”

Gerard laughs slightly, “Neither is she. She’s more like you.”

 _Fuck_. He should _not_ have said that. Frank looks utterly bewildered. “W-what?”

Okay, he just has to cover. Yeah, that’s it! He’ll just cover. Kinda. He shrugs, “Yeah, she’s more like you; the kind of stuff you’d like.”

Frank looks uncomfortable, and worried for a second. It’s like he can’t think of anything to say anymore, “Um. Well, would you…” He hesitates, “I don’t know. Why can’t you tell her you like her?”

Gerard sighs, “Because I don’t think she’d like me back.”

“C’mon, don’t bullshit me, Way.”

He really didn’t want to have to say this, but he’s not going to lie any more than he absolutely has to, “She’s… she’s muggle born.”

Frank is taken aback. His face is devastated, “Oh.”

“Yeah.”

He’s starting to get angry, Gerard can see it. He knew he shouldn’t have said it. But it needed to be said. Frank needed to know, “And you’re actually shallow enough to care about that?”

Gerard holds out his hands defensively, “No! No. But my parents—”

Frank cuts him off, sounding completely distraught, “So you’re afraid of what your _parents_ will think?! If you actually like her—like her the way you should—you wouldn’t give a shit about that kind of stuff.”

“I don’t!” He says quickly. “I just, I don’t want her to be ridiculed by my family. I want her to feel safe. I want her to stay.”

Frank doesn’t seem to know what to say, so he just thinks of something off the top of his head, “Mikey wouldn’t care.”

Gerard sighs, “Mikey _doesn’t_ care. He’s the one telling me to do this, remember?”

Frank holds up a finger. He looks less angry, and more calculating. Like he’s thinking of the perfect solution to the most imperfect situation, “Okay, hold on. If she’s muggle born, and if she’s anything like me, she’ll want you to – to meet her parents.” Gerard was _not_ expecting this.

“She’ll want you to watch movies with her, and – and sing her to sleep at night, and kill spiders because _fuck no_ she’d never do that.” Gerard laughs and so does Frank, “She’d want you to not be afraid to hold her hand in public, but not be overly affectionate either. She’d want you to hold her during thunderstorms, and kiss her when she cries, and…” His eyes meet Gerard’s and they’re dark. They’re full of something Gerard hasn’t ever seen before: _lust_. “And you have to love her. Passionately. Every. Night.”

Gerard swallows hard, and his voice is only a squeak when he talks, “I can do that.”

The lust leaves Frank’s eyes, and he now looks thoughtful, “But first… first you have to tell her. First you have to win her over, because if she’s _anything_ like me, she won’t want love.”

Gerard starts to panic; _Fuck!_ How is he supposed to do that?! “How do I – how do I win her over?”

“Prove you like her.”

“How?”

Frank shrugs, “Do something that can’t be ignored. Ask her out in front of people. Tell your friends you like her. If she knows your friends won’t hate her, she’ll be more likely to say yes.”

“One of my friends is already close to her.” Fucking Pete…

Frank nods, “Well there you go.”

They’re both silent and they stand up and walk upstairs. They’re laying in their beds, staring up at the ceiling when Gerard says, “Hey Frank?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

“No problem.” Frank is smiling, and Gerard can hear it in his voice. After a second he says, “Oh hey, Gerard?”

“Yeah?”

“If she says no, don’t give up. Quitters never win.”

That sentence runs over and over in Gerard’s head: _If she says no, don’t give up_. Gerard doesn’t respond, but before he falls asleep he thinks to himself, _Slytherins don’t give up, but if they do, they go down fighting_.


	11. An Awful Lot of Running To Do

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “So what’s up?”
> 
> Gerard hesitates, “Frank.”
> 
> Pete looks happily surprised, “Frank?”
> 
> “Frank.”
> 
> “What about Frank?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so...i kinda totally forgot to put in a chapter so if you just wanna go back and read 'haunts like a ghost, hurts like a memory' that'd be fan-freakin-tastic! (you lucky bastards get 2 new chapters today!)

“I don’t know where you’re going but do you got room for one more troubled soul?”

– _Fall Out Boy; Alone Together_  


* * *

The next day, Gerard—who has finally gotten accustomed to thinking of Frank every day and no longer finds it annoying—is running a million different thoughts through his head. He’s chasing after them. He’s _pining_ after them, but they keep evading him. He has bits and pieces, but overall? What the actual fuck was he going to do? He couldn’t just _go_ up to Frank like, ‘Hey, all I do is think about being with you, and kissing you, and how much it kills me to not tell you… oh, and I wanna fuck you senseless.’ Yeah, no. He can’t say that. Well he _could_ but he doesn’t think it’d go well.

Luckily he has somewhere to be in order to take his mind off this horrible issue. He grips his broom tightly and meanders onto the Quidditch pitch. Everyone but Gabe and Draco are already there, and it’s no big surprise seeing as they think they fucking own the team (which they kinda do…).

When Gerard spots Pete, he rushes over to him, “Pete!”

Pete holds his hands up in defense, “Look, I’m sorry about Potions—”

Gerard shakes his head, “No, don’t worry about it.” Pete looks relieved, but he also kinda looks confused as to why Gerard’s talking to him.

“So what’s up?”

Gerard hesitates, “Frank.”

Pete looks happily surprised, “Frank?”

“Frank.”

“What about Frank?” Pete’s expression is growing amused; like he knows where this is going. Gerard feels himself growing agitated at Pete’s smugness. Then again, he really needs Pete’s help on this so he has no choice but to suck it up and deal with Pete’s horrible antics.

“Exactly,” Gerard says, moving Pete aside so that none of the other Slytherins could hear. “Pete I need your help.”

 “Why?” Pete seems pretty damn apathetic, and it’s kinda annoying.

Gerard rolls his eyes and then stands there for a second. He can just _feel_ the creeping anxiety festering in his stomach and he thinks he’s gonna throw up. “I-I… listen this isn’t easy for me.”

“Take your time, buddy.” Pete pats his shoulder, “Let it out.”

Gerard sputters for a few seconds before going silent. He’s at a loss for words; he doesn’t really know how to say what he’s trying to get across, so he just goes with, “I think I’m in love with Frank Iero.”

“ _Oh my God! What the FUCK?! Holy shit!!_ ” Pete looks like he’s having a heart attack. Gerard stands there helplessly and glances around at all the people who are looking at them strangely. After a few more seconds Pete rests his hand on Gerard’s shoulder, looking down at the ground. “Gerard,” he looks up and stares earnestly into Gerard’s eyes, “I already knew.”

“Oh. Yeah,” Gerard grimaces. “I kinda figured that if anyone knew, it’d be you since you, like, talk to Mikey and stuff…”

“He’s the only person you pay attention to. I’m lucky you’re talking to _me_ this long.” Pete shrugs, and Gerard feels bad because _really_? Is he really like that? Does he ignore everyone around him just because Frank fucking _breathes_?! Wait… no. Yeah, actually that’s pretty accurate.

Gerard frowns slightly, “It’s sad how literal that sentence is.” Pete laughs and nods. After a few seconds of hesitation, Gerard says, “I don’t know what to do. Oh, and I may or may not have convinced Frank that I’m in love with a female version of himself.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

“He wanted to help me! I don’t know why…” his brows furrowed.

Pete nods, “What’d he say?”

“He told me that I’d have to prove I like her before she’d even consider going out with me.” After a second he adds, “He also told me that I shouldn’t give up if she says no. Something about quitters never winning.”

“ _They say quitters never win. We walk the plank on a sinking ship_ …” Pete’s voice trails off. “It’s a poem that Trick wrote for—” He stops abruptly and his face goes tomato red. Gerard wants to know what he was going to say, but they really don’t have time for that. “Uh, how are you supposed to prove you like her? Him? Frank?”

Gerard shrugs, “Tell my friends that I like her.”

Pete’s brows furrow, “The problem is?”

“Muggle born.”

Pete blinks once, “Oh, I see.” He’s completely silent and still for a second, “Ah, okay.” He nods before saying, “Well I can see your dilemma.”

“Really?” Sarcasm. Gerard is highly skilled in sarcasm, and Pete is immune to it; doesn’t understand anything. Either that or he does and he’s a fucking troll. Yeah, that seems a bit more likely.

“Yeah!” Pete exclaims, “I mean, Gabe and Bert? They’re not gonna be as enthusiastic as me. They might actually beat the shit out of him.”

Gerard groans miserably, “That’s what I’m worried about.” He scrubs his hands over his face, “I don’t care if they approve or not. I just – I want him safe, y’know?”

Pete is smirking at him, “Aw, is little Gerard finally in love at last?”

Gerard glares at him, “You know what?” His face melts into a fond smile, “Yes. I am.” Holy fucking shit does it feel good to say that out loud. He’s only ever pondered it alone, but never has he gotten to finally say it. Never has he finally gotten to mean it.

Pete smiles, “Awesome.”

“But what do I do?” Gerard’s face turns a little less happy, and a little more ‘Holy-Crap-This-Kid-I-Love-Is-Going-To-Be-Killed-By-My-Friends!’.

“Well I can tell you what _not_ to do. Do _not_ tell him you love him. At all. If you’re going to say something to him, make sure it’s along the lines of ‘I think I like you’, okay?”

“But he thinks I’m in love with someone _else_!”

Pete face-palms, “So that plan is out.” He shakes his head to clear it and then says, “Okay, you have to start somewhere. First things first! _He_ needs to like _you_ , and accept it, before you can even _consider_ telling him how you feel.”

Gerard frowns, “That’s not going to be easy.”

“What’s difficult about getting Frank Iero to even _respect_ you as a human being is the fact that once you’re on his shit list… you never really get off. Like, you could be saving children from burning buildings. Doesn’t matter. Until he’s ready, you’re the lowest of the low piece of shit he’s ever met.” Gerard rolls his eyes. _That makes me feel loads better_.

“But you?” Pete says, scrutinizing Gerard. “There’s something different about you. I don’t know what it is, but I know that he _wants_ to hate you, but he just can’t. Not true hate anyway.” Pete shudders, “You don’t wanna be on his shit list. You remember what happens when you’re on Frank Iero’s shit list.”

“Yeah,” Gerard nods gravely. “I know.” That’s when Gabe and Draco decide to show up, and they start practice. It’s intense, and Gerard’s not focused; Gabe can tell. After practice, Gabe tells Gerard that he better get his shit together because they’re “not losing to mudbloods and blood-traitors”.

As Gerard and Pete walk back up to the castle, Gerard starts to worry, “I’m scared. I’m genuinely scared. I mean, I can’t really just go up to Gabe and Bert and tell them I’m in love with a muggle born!”

Pete’s face grows uneasy, “They’d kill him. Literally.”

“Exactly!”

“Okay, but since when did you consider them your friends anyway?”  Gerard didn’t have a good answer for that because it was a good question. Who said that he was friends with Gabe and Bert anyway? They only talk to each other sometimes. No, Pete is Gerard’s only actual friend, and Gerard isn’t sure they’re really _friends_.

“That’s true,” Gerard nods. “So who _do_ I call my friends?”

“You should make friends with people who already like Frank.”

“But all the people who like Frank hate me!”

“Not _everyone_. Mikey and I don’t hate you!”

Gerard’s face turns sour, “If you’re trying to tell me I should make friends with Potter and Weasley—”

“And Bryar, and Toro, _and_ Granger,” Pete nods. “And I’m not saying you ‘should’ make friends with them. I’m telling you that you _will_ be friends with them.” They’re silent for a few moments, and they enter the castle. “I’ll talk to them.”

“No!” Gerard stops him. “You can’t – you can’t tell them. Just… just let me have some time, okay?

“Okay,” Pete says in a warning tone. “But I _will_ scream ‘I told you so’ in your face when this all backfires on you.”

Gerard smiles bitterly, “Friends forever, Pete.”

“Y’know,” Pete says. “Just tell him. If I know anything about Frank, I know he’ll understand. He seems tough, but he’s really passionate.” He thinks about it for a second, “I bet he’s really good in bed.”

“Pete!”

“What, are you trying to tell me you haven’t thought about it?” Okay Pete had a point there. “Even _I_ thought about it once.”

He almost chokes on his own saliva, “What?!”

“Oh fuck yeah! You think you’re the first one to nice that Frank is one hot piece of ass? You better grab that before it’s too late.” Pete nods and they part ways. Gerard takes his time walking up to the fifth floor. He enters the room only to see Beelzebub and Frank sitting on the couch, and Frank’s reading a book. He looks up when he hears Gerard and smiles slightly. “Hello.”

Gerard grumbles an incoherent response before trudging up the stairs and to the bathroom; he doesn’t have the energy to go to the prefects’ bathroom. Gerard showers, changes, and comes back downstairs. He’s exhausted, mentally and physically. He walks over to the couch by Frank and Beelzebub and collapses on it. He ends up with his head on Frank’s shoulder, and it’s strangely comfortable. He knows he shouldn’t be touching Frank—especially with the places his mind’s been going lately—but he’s too tired to move.

Frank makes a face, “You’re heavy.”

“Get over it,” Gerard mumbles.

Frank laughs. “I’m _supposed_ to be teaching you Potions.”

“I don’t want to,” Gerard whines, burying his face in Frank’s neck. Frank laughs and then says, “Ew! Your hair’s all gross and wet! Get off, get off!” But Gerard can’t really take him seriously since he’s giggling like a school girl. Gerard is light-headed and dizzy, and he’s a total _girl_ , because he’s only acting this way because it makes Frank smile. All he wants to do is make Frank happy… and fuck him. That too.

Gerard sighs, “Do we actually have to _do_ stuff?”

“No,” Frank says slowly. “But you’re going to fail that class if you don’t study.” He opens the book in his lap and starts flipping through the pages. He’s looking for a potion that he can explain how to make instead of actually making it. Gerard reaches over and stops him, his fingers lingering a second longer than they need to. Frank can feel his face turning red, but Gerard doesn’t really notice. After a pause, Gerard finally says, “Tell me how to brew… a love potion.” Oh, holy fucking shit. He is treading in some seriously unfamiliar waters right now; he could sink or swim in a matter of one second.

Frank swallows hard, “Okay. Um, well basically all you do is take two people who really like each other, and you stick them in a room until they can’t take it any longer and finally have careless, erratic, dirty, shameless, crazy hot sex.” Gerard can’t even help the groan that escapes his throat, and something in Frank’s stomach turns. He bites his bottom lip, “That’s not what the book says, but that’s how _I_ would brew a love potion…” He gives Gerard a quick glance before saying, “Just for future reference.”

After that they kind of give up on the whole studying thing and decided to just go to bed. They needed rest; they were delirious. As they’re lying in the darkness, Frank takes his chances and points out, “Y’know… we probably could have made it. The potion I mean. We have half the ingredients.”

Gerard—who is shamelessly palming his rock-hard dick—says, as steadily as he can, “What are we missing?”

“The two people who like each other.” Gerard freezes. He’s barely breathing when Frank finally says, “It doesn’t work if only one of them likes the other.”


	12. Quidditch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Wait, so you’re telling me that you actually did that to help Mikey out?”
> 
> “Yeah…”
> 
> Frank looks utterly bewildered, “Your family is fucked up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> short chapter, but i feel like it was totally needed

“If Heavens grief brings Hells rains, then I’d trade all my ‘tomorrows’ for just one ‘yesterday’.”

– _Fall Out Boy; Just One Yesterday_  


* * *

The next day goes by just as normal as any other; classes and Quidditch. That’s what Gerard and Frank’s life has become. Classes and Quidditch. They don’t really see their friends too often, and they don’t really get an opportunity to talk—Gerard can’t tell if he’s grateful for that or if it makes him really fucking angry.

That afternoon the Slytherin Quidditch team had practice, and when Gerard comes back (feeling too exhausted to breathe) he is met with a very surprising sight. Frank is sitting on the couch, playing a guitar, and singing. His head is bent low over it, hair falling like a curtain over his face, and his body seems to curl around it, like it’s just another part of his anatomy; Gerard is thoroughly intrigued and he seems to be in a trance. Frank’s entire body rocks to the beat of the song and Gerard just wants to sit and watch him forever.

Frank finally sees him, and his eyes go wide with panic, “I didn’t see – I’ll just put it away.” He moves to get up, but Gerard stops him.

“No!” He says a little too quickly, and Frank gives him a confused look. He clears his throat, “I mean, no. You’re – you’re really good.”

“Seriously?”

Gerard smiles, “Fuck yeah, dude. Don’t let talent like that go to waste.”

Frank hesitates for a second as if deciding what to say. Eventually he just goes with, “You’re not going to destroy my guitar are you?”

Gerard sighs and falls into the chair opposite Frank, “I know it was pretty shitty of me to break Mikey’s bass.”

Frank’s face is upset, “Fuck yeah it was!”

“But hear me out!” Gerard doesn’t really know how to say this, because he never thought he’d have to tell someone the reason he took his brother’s favorite thing in the entire world, and smashed it to pieces. “I knew Mikey wanted a new bass for a long time now, and our parents wouldn’t buy him one until his old one was broken beyond repair.” He shrugs, “They don’t like muggle technology but they like Mikey so…”

“Wait, so you’re telling me that you actually did that to _help_ Mikey out?”

“Yeah…”

Frank looks utterly bewildered, “Your family is fucked up.”

He rolls his eyes, “Tell me about it.” They sit in comfortable silence for a while, Frank slowly picking at the strings beneath his fingers and Gerard watching them move like spiders dancing on a web. It’s so intricate and precise. It’s so perfect. He’s so…

“Beautiful,” Gerard mutters.

Frank stops abruptly and looks up at him, “What?”

Gerard shakes his head, “Uh… nothing.”

Frank doesn’t believe him, and Gerard can tell, but he doesn’t say anything and for that, Gerard will be ever thankful. Frank is looking for something to talk about so he just says the first thing he can think of, “How are things going?”

“What?”

“With that girl.”

“Oh, uh.” Fuck. Now what was he supposed to say? “Not well. I talked to one of my friends, and he understood, but he was worried like I am. If Bert and Gabe found out I liked her… they’d kill her.” His voice broke over the word ‘kill’ and Frank grimaced. He can tell how hard this is for Gerard, but Gerard will never know how hard it is for him. How hard it is to help the boy you’re in love with, be in love with someone else.

“Just because she’s muggle born?” Frank asked, disbelieving.

“They’re _really_ against muggle borns.”

Frank scoffs, “And you’re not?”

“I’m not. I’m in love with one, remember?” _Yeah._ Frank thinks bitterly, _I remember_. Gerard continues, “I was raised that way, and – and over Christmas I got to see how ugly people can be just because they discriminate based on blood purity.”

“Now you see what I saw every time I looked at you.”

Gerard is confused, “Looked?”

Frank smiles painfully, “You don’t look so bad now. I mean, you look the same but now there’s something else I see in you.” He can’t do this. He really can’t. It’s killing him metaphorically and literally. He feels like he’s slipping. He clears his throat, “It’s – it’s love.”

Gerard looks concerned, “Are you—”

Frank cuts him off, standing up quickly and putting his guitar down, “I’m not feeling good. I’m going to the hospital.”


	13. If You Don't Have A Solution, Pretend You're Okay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> People noticing you… it’s not always a bad thing.

“This is the road to ruin, and we started at the end.”  – _ _ _Fall Out Boy; Alone Together___

* * *

Frank doesn’t even come back from the hospital wing until the next afternoon, and he doesn’t say a thing to Gerard. All he does is come in, go to his room, change for Quidditch practice, and leave. When he gets back he’s still silent. Just comes in, takes a shower, and goes to bed. Gerard is actually really worried, but he’s not going to push it. He really cares about Frank, and if Frank needs some space then he deserves some space.

The next day is Friday, and it’s the last day for Gryffindor and Slytherin to cram in some practice because their game is on Saturday. Every time Frank thinks about it, he gets this really sad look on his face, and all he can imagine is fucking shit up so bad that he gets kicked off the team. Every time Gerard sees Frank with that sad look on his face, something inside of him kicks him in the chest and reminds him that he can’t do anything about it.

The next day also happens to be the night of the first-ever ‘ _Quidditch Ball_ ’. It’s nothing more than a school dance in honor of the house teams, but everyone treats it like it’s a big deal. Frank certainly doesn’t.

Before he starts to get ready, Frank tells Gerard, “You should have asked her go to with you.” Inside, Gerard is in hysterics, but all he does is shrug. “She wouldn’t want to go. Not with me anyway.”

Frank thinks about it for a second before saying, “You said she’s like me, right?” Gerard nods, not looking at him. Frank’s brows furrow. “You still should have asked her.”

Gerard makes a frustrated noise, “I didn’t want her to be uncomfortable. People stare, you know.”

Frank smiles warmly, “They don’t stare because they’re mean. They stare because you give them something to stare at. That’s why I don’t give them something to stare at.”

Gerard regards him, “Frank.”

“What?” He suddenly feels very self-conscious. Why is Gerard looking at him like that? It’s making him all flustered and nervous and definitely _not_ okay.

“You give people something to stare at.”

“I-I do?” He sounds like he’s going to pass out.

Gerard shakes his head, “People noticing you… it’s not always a bad thing.” Frank just stares at him for a minute, and Gerard just stares back. Then Frank slowly gets up and walks up to Gerard like he’s going to say something, but in the end he doesn’t. He just pushes past Gerard and walks into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him. Gerard runs a hand through his hair in frustration, _I can’t keep doing this_.

He doesn’t want to have to see Frank so he takes his stuff and goes to the prefects’ bathroom. Surprisingly enough, nobody else is there. By the time he gets back to the room Frank is already gone, but it doesn’t really surprise him; there’s a reason he took so long in the bathroom. He didn’t want to have to see Frank again.

Frank, after leaving, quickly makes his way to the Gryffindor common room to meet Mikey and Bob, and when he does Mikey cat-calls. Frank smirks at him, “Mikeyway, I never figured you the type to behave in such a vulgar manner.”

“Usually I don’t,” he shrugs. “But I don’t know Frank, you’re definitely looking pretty bangable.” Frank bursts out laughing, and Bob—who looks rather uncomfortable with the situation—announces that he’s going to be leaving and that he’ll see them downstairs.

“You’re not looking too bad yourself, Mikeyway.” Frank elbows him as they start down the corridor. They didn’t want to take dates, but for completely different reasons. Frank didn’t take a date, because the person he _wanted_ to take wanted to take someone else. Mikey didn’t take a date because Frank didn’t, and they’re friends. Besides, Mikey doesn’t like anybody.

When they enter the great hall, there are four tables where the teachers usually sit. Each table is decorated with a different house colour. First is Ravenclaw, then Gryffindor, then Slytherin, and then Hufflepuff. Luckily enough, Frank and Mikey end up sitting by each other because the tables start with the Seekers and end with the Beaters. Although, somehow Pete has managed to be seated at the end of his table (right next to Patrick) even though he’s a Chaser and not a Beater.

As he and Mikey make their way through the hall, it’s completely crowded with students trying to talk to other students, trying to talk to him, and trying to push past the others. Mikey and Frank exchange glances as they observe the obnoxiously big group of girls standing in front of them, and whispering to each other. They have to go through that group in order to make it to their seats, and all Frank can think of is, _This is not going to go well_.

He looks at Mikey and shrugs before walking forward. Turns out that Frank was right because once they reach the other side, Frank turns to Mikey and says, “They’re like fucking vultures! I’m pretty sure at least ten of them grabbed my ass.”

“Well at least one of them didn’t cop a feel of your junk.” Mikey grimaces, and Frank makes a sympathetic face. He understands.  As Frank takes his seat, he notices that—unfortunately—Fred Weasley is seated next to Draco Malfoy, and he gives him an apologetic look. Fred just holds up his wand, and Frank is incredibly worried that shit’s about to get real.

“Oh, Frank,” Mikey taps him on the shoulder. He holds out a folded piece of paper, and Frank takes it with an exasperated look on his face.

“Mikey, I don’t want to read any more—”

“Then don’t read it. Look at it. I think you’ll be surprised at what you find.” Frank hates the Ravenclaw students and their ever-posing philosophical bullshit. He figures it’d be rude to throw it away, but he sure as fuck isn’t going to look at it now, so he just shoves it in his pocket. Just then Professor Dumbledore steps up to the podium, and the entire room dies down in volume.

“Hello. I welcome all of you to the first-ever Quidditch Ball!” Everyone claps. “Seated behind me are twenty-eight very talented young wizards. Among these twenty-eight are a select four who have been chosen to represent their team and not only that, but their house as well.”

He steps off the podium and walks over to a large golden box that is studded with jewels. He puts his hand on it, and looks at all the students. “Inside this box is an award.  This week, all twenty-eight students, along with the heads of the houses and myself, have been asked to take a vote on who we think is the most acknowledgeable captain at Hogwarts.” He waves his hand over the box, and the top disappears. He pulls out a letter and opens it. He takes a good look at it before saying, “The four captains are Harry Potter, Patrick Stump, Draco Malfoy, and Luna Lovegood. Unshockingly enough, in a surprise turn of events, none of those students have received this award.”

The room breaks into a wave of hushed whispers, and Frank looks at Mikey, confused. Mikey only smiles at him before turning his attention back to Dumbledore. “Yes, it seems that quite a few of the students, along with quite possibly Professor Snape, Professor McGonagall and myself, have decided the award should go to a different student.” Dumbledore turns towards the players, and looks directly at Frank.

“It seems that it was much more favorable for Mr. Frank Iero to receive this award.” Frank looks at Mikey again with a look that just _screams_ ‘I’m-Going-To-Fucking-Murder-You-Because-What-The-Actual-Fuck-Is-Wong-With-You?!’ Everyone looks at Frank who tries his best to not look like he’s about to pass out. Dumbledore gestures for him to stand. At first, Frank doesn’t move, so Harry elbows him. He sputters a bit before slowly standing up, and everyone starts cheering. He doesn’t have to look at the Slytherins to know they’re mad about it.

Dumbledore walks over and hands him a tiny statue of a flying Quidditch player, and a snitch circling it. He smiles slightly and sits down awkwardly. Then Dumbledore addresses the crowd, “Yes, a good job to Mr. Iero indeed. He won with 10 votes, Mr. Stump came in second with 9. Then Mr. Potter with 7, Ms. Lovegood with 6, and Mr. Saporta with… 1.” Everyone giggles, but Dumbledore ignores it. “Please, enjoy the evening. I know I will!”

As everyone starts eating, Frank finds that he’s not really hungry. Mikey keeps shooting him worried glances, and from across the room he can see Gerard doing the same. _What is it with these Way children?!_ He gets frustrated and sets his fork down, too upset to even poke at his food. He crosses his arms over his chest and settles back into his seat. This evening’s gonna suck.

Turns out he’s right, because an hour later, when the actual dance starts, Frank, who hasn’t moved since he sat down, turns to Mikey and says, “I can’t stand this. The music… it’s too happy.”

Mikey knows Frank would rather be listening to punk rock or death metal and he’d rather be moshing than waltzing with a bunch of frilly girls. That’s why Frank’s gay; he can’t handle girls. Besides, there’s something about putting a dick in his mouth that gets him hard in seconds.

“C’mon,” Mikey nods for Frank to follow. Frank gratefully follows, and luckily there are no big groups of girls to detain them. They walk out of the Great Hall and sit down against the wall. From there they can only hear the bass notes of the song, and Frank smiles gleefully. “Better?” Mikey asks, seemingly amused.

“Much better.” He nods. They start a conversation about nothing in particular, but while they’re laughing and making faces at the idiotic demeanor of half the Slytherin Quidditch team, a little ways away, someone is watching them. Gerard feels a stupid pang of jealousy in his chest when he sees Frank with Mikey, and he grits his teeth before walking straight past them and up the stairs. Frank’s eyes mistakenly follow after him, and when he turns his head, Mikey is giving him a ‘You-Like-My-Brother-Don’t-You-Frank?’ look. “Shut up.”

“I didn’t say anything.” Mikey smiles.

“You didn’t have to,” Frank grumbles, folding his arms over his chest.

They’re silent for a while, and then Mikey says, “He really does like you, y’know.”

Frank shakes his head. “No. He doesn’t.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Yes I do.”

Mikey is confused, “What?”

Frank’s face is miserable. “When you sent me that letter… he said you sent him one too.” He grimaces at the stinging feeling he feels behind his eyes, “He told me it was about this girl.” Damn. Frank really doesn’t want a romance.

Mikey seems angry, “Did he now?”

“Yeah. He said he needed help, so I-I helped him.” He shrugs, “He said she wasn’t like a typical girl. He said she was more like me. Liked the kind of stuff that I like.”

Mikey is silent for so long that Frank thinks he’s fallen asleep or something, and when he looks at Mikey, he meets a pair of unamused eyes. “Frank…”

“What?” Frank’s brows furrow.

“You’re an idiot.”

Frank glares at him, “What?!”

Mikey shakes his head, “So is Gerard, but you? You’re _really_ an idiot.”

“Thanks… I guess.”

He makes an exasperated noise, “No. Just… I can’t give you the answer for this one. You’re gonna have to figure this out on your own.” 


	14. The Beginnings of Something Beautiful

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Welcome to the first Quidditch match of the year! This game is Slytherin versus Gryffindor.”

“I’m about to make your sweat roll backwards, and your heart beat in reverse.”

– _ _Fall Out Boy; Rat a Tat__

* * *

“Welcome to the first Quidditch match of the year! This game is Slytherin versus Gryffindor.” The announcer’s voice is thunderous and recognizable; it’s Ray. The players fly around the field and wave to the people in the stands. Frank doesn’t. He makes a wide, low circle around the entire field, from the outside so that no one will see him, and by the time he makes it back to where he started, he can just fly straight to his spot and the game can start. He’s so nervous that it’s almost a mental disease.

Gerard, on the other hand, is trying very hard to stay focused, but he continually finds his thoughts… wandering. Mikey, who is sitting in the stands, can see the look on Gerard’s face and knows right then and there: Slytherin is going to lose.

When the game begins, the only thing Gerard can do is stare at Frank, and by the middle of the game, he’s let six goals slip by and the look on Gabe’s face could strangle him. Eventually, Frank—who’s trying to help Gerard even though it means Gryffindor could possibly lose—flies past him and yells, “Fucking pay attention, Gerard!”

That’s what does it.

Not Gabe (the captain of the team!). Not the fans yelling at him. Not his other team mates or the fact that he knows his father is in the audience. No, it takes tiny little Frank Iero to fly past him and tell him to pay attention, and suddenly _bam_! He pays attention instantly. After that, Gerard is back on his A-game, and part of Gabe wants to hug Frank while the other part of him thinks that’d be disgusting because Frank’s a mudblood.

It’s thirty minutes later when they’re tied 100 to 100, and both Frank and Draco haven’t seen the snitch _once_. Everyone is basically dead, and their attention is really starting to drag. Frank’s sitting on his broom, trying to keep himself from falling off because he’s so tired; he yawns and stretches, and his fingers brush something cold and metal. When he looks to see what it was, his eyes go wide. The snitch is already twenty feet away, but Frank doesn’t find that to be a problem. The real problem is that Draco seems to also have seen the snitch, and is now flying after it at lightning speed. _Fuck no you don’t_ , he thinks, speeding after them.

As he gets closer, Frank can no longer hear the crowd or the announcer or even the wind rushing in his ears. He can only hear his heart beat and his uneven breathing. Frank is pretty good at flying—so good in fact, that he’s already passed Draco—but he’s not fast enough. The snitch is centimeters away from his fingers, and even if he tries to lean forward he still can’t reach it.

 _Okay, what do I know about science_? Well how do airplanes fly? The more aerodynamic they are, the faster they are. _So how do I become more aerodynamic_? Then he gets an idea, and hunches even farther over his broom so that his chest is pressed against the handle. He draws his knees in and ducks his head down. It may not have made a huge difference in his speed, but it was just enough; just enough for him to catch the snitch.

He slows down and stares at the tiny golden ball in the centre of his palm. Slowly but surely, the sounds of the crowd, and the sounds of Ray’s voice, “…hundred and fifty points for catching the snitch! Gryffindor wins!” Frank looks up and sees everyone cheering, and his mouth melts into a victorious smile. “Fuck yes!” He yells, knowing full well that if a teacher heard him he’d be in so much trouble. Yeah, as if a teacher could hear him over _everyone else_ yelling as well.

When Frank’s feet touch the ground, his team mates are attacking him, and all he can do is smile so brightly that the sun can’t even try to compare. Gerard thinks of how beautiful that smile is and decides to head to back to the school unlike everyone else. They’re going to Hogsmeade to celebrate Frank’s first win and I wish I could join them, but it’d just be weird. We’re not friends like that.

On my way to the castle, I just barely miss Frank, Mikey, Ray, Bob, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Lyndzey, and Jamia. Luckily none of them saw him, but when he looks back to where he’s heading, he meets the devious eyes of Pete Wentz. He yells to the group to hold up for a second and then turns to Gerard and smiles. “Bro, you coming?”

Gerard looks at the skeptical group and then back at Pete. “Nah. It’s, er, not really my place. We’re not… y’know.” _Friends_. He’s not friends with any of them aside from Pete and Frank (kinda). It’d just be weird if he went with them.

“You’re not the only one person on the Slytherin Quidditch team.”

“I know, but—”

“Ah! I don’t want to hear it!” Pete puts his arm around Gerard’s shoulders and guides him back down the path. “You’re coming with us and that’s final, alright?”

He looks at everyone, but avoids Frank, before saying "O-okay..." And they all start to walk. Leading the group is Mikey and Frank and Gerard immediately feels jealous. He shouldn’t be because he’s not dating Frank, they’re not close friends, and he has no claim over Frank’s life whatsoever. But that doesn’t stop him from wanting to clock Mikey right in the jaw.

Pete, who is silently (which is weird) walking beside Gerard, notices the look on his face and elbows him lightly. "Calm down, dude. They're just friends."

"Yeah because they sure look like 'just friends' to me..." He glares at no one in particular. He’s just kinda angry at the world for now, and if Pete couldn’t handle that, then he could just get the fuck out.

"They are.” Pete frowns at him, “Stop being a pissy little bitch all the time."

"I'm not, Pete." Gerard grits though his teeth.

"Yes you are,” Pete counters. “You're moping around like a loser."

"Shut up." Gerard is seriously about to lose his nerve. He might just snap and strangle Pete without thinking about it. He’d feel horrible after but for the moment he’d feel like he just got into a bathtub after playing Quidditch for ten hours straight.

Pete was just trying to rile Gerard up, "Why should I?" Well, it worked.

"God just fucking shut up Pete!" Everyone stops walking and looks back at him. It gets awkwardly quiet and everyone’s afraid to say something, so they just kinda look at each other and shift their weight uncomfortably.

Gerard makes a frustrated sound, turns to Pete and says, “This is why I can’t have friends!” He says it in such a way that it sounds like he’s trying to explain something to a mentally slow person. Then he turns on his heel and stalks away muttering something along the lines of “ _Fuckin’ Pete… now they think I’m crazy… just fucking in love… nobody understands…_ ”

After a few seconds Frank says, "What was that about?"

Pete just says, "He's just lovesick." And Frank feels his blood boil. Mikey quickly turns to face at Pete and gives look like, ‘ _What the fuck is wrong with you?!_ ’ Pete shrugs and then winks at Patrick who is just catching up to the group. Patrick blushes and smiles shyly. Ray eyes them both but doesn't say anything. When they arrive at Hogsmeade, Frank takes Mikey and Bob off to The Three Broomsticks for a celebratory butter-beer. Ray explains that he has to buy his mom a birthday present and Harry and Ron go with him since they have nothing else to do. Hermione, Lyndzey, and Jamia break away and head off to shop.

And then there were two.

“So Pete,” Patrick starts. “Wanna go to the Magical Menagerie?”

“Oh, yeah. Sure!” Pete’s heart starts to pound and he cannot fucking believe that he’s spending time alone with fucking Patrick. This has got to be, like, his birthday or something. They head inside and Patrick immediately gets distracted by the cats, kneeling down next to their cage and trying to stroke them with his fingers. Pete smiles fondly and asks him, “Do you have a pet?”

“Oh, er, no. I don’t.” Patrick smiles up at Pete, “I’ve always wanted a cat, though.”

“Really?” That gives Pete a few ideas.

“Yeah. They’re so adorable.” And Pete can’t help but think, ‘ _You’re adorable._ ’

“Why don’t you have one?” Pete kneels down next to Patrick and cocks his head to the side, taking in whatever he can because holy fucking tits he’s in love.

“I, er, can’t really afford one.” Patrick turns to him and gives him a mega-watt smile, “You know, they eat a lot.” Pete smiles back. This is going to be the day. This is totally going to be the fucking day. Maybe he won’t tell Patrick, but he has decided that he’s going to flirt like his fucking life depends on it, and in Pete Wentz terms: it does.

“Only if you let ‘em.” Pete returns his smile, “Man, it seems weird that a Hufflepuff doesn’t have a pet. Nature is like, your thing right?”

Patrick shrugs, “Yeah, I guess it is.” He looks at all the little kitties with a pure sort of fondness and longing. He’s deep in thought, but Pete has no problem just staring. Eventually Patrick says, “Hey Pete?”

“Uh, yeah?”

“Why are – why’re you so nice to me?” Pete’s heart sinks. “I mean, I appreciate it, but it’s just kinda weird sometimes.” Okay Pete can understand that. If a Slytherin suddenly becomes all buddy-buddy with a Hufflepuff and acts like a fucking schoolgirl around him, then people start to wonder. But Pete doesn’t care.

“I-I, um, don’t really have a reason.” He scratches the back of his head and gives a wary smile, “I guess I just think you’re a cool guy.”

“Really?” Patrick’s head snaps to face him, “I mean, have you talked to me?”

“C’mon, Trick,” Pete blushes at the sudden nickname but then decides that he really likes it. Patrick must like it too since he smiles and blushes as well. Pete gives him a playful punch on the shoulder, “Don’t sell yourself short like that… and I didn’t say that because you’re a pretty tiny dude. You’re just, like, really awesome, y’know?”

Patrick scoffs, “Not really.”

But it’s so weird for Pete to hear him talk like this. Patrick has always been the kind of person to not care what anyone else thinks. He still doesn’t care, but now he’s admitting his uncoolness and he’s perfectly okay with it! He doesn’t seem uncomfortable in the least, and that… that is what Pete loves about him. “Well how come you’re nice to me?” Pete wonders, “I’m just a fucking asshole Slytherin. Definitely not worthy of your company. You’re so cute, and little, and innocent.”

Patrick’s hand stills, and the kitten he had been petting protests with a mighty ‘meow’. Actually it sounds like the most adorable thing they’d both ever heard. Patrick continues to pet the cat, and doesn’t look at Pete when he says, “C-cute?”

“Fuck yeah, dude!” Pete smiles at him like he’s the one and only thing in the universe. “You’re fucking adorable! You always look wide-eyed and interested. You rarely ever get angry. I just, I fucking love your hair. I always wanna pet it. Y’know, in a lot of ways, you’re exactly like a cat.”

Patrick smiles at him, “Maybe that’s why I don’t have one yet.”

Pete grabs one of his hands and pets the back of it, looking down at the pale delicate skin, “No, it’s why _I_ don’t have one yet.” He brings the hand to his mouth and kisses it gently, murmuring against Patrick’s skin, I’m too busy looking after my cute little Trick.” Patrick blushes, and they both feel like something really beautiful just happened.

In The Three Broomsticks Mikey and Frank are having a good time in the corner booth, conjuring up tiny things that they can send flying across the room. A few times they’ve hit some of the patrons, and even the bartender. They laugh silently and eventually Mikey switches the conversation, “How’s it feel to kick some major Slytherin ass?”

“Pretty awesome if I do say so myself.” He smiles and nods. Then he hesitates, “What was up with Gerard? He was seriously distracted.”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

Frank rolls his eyes, “Try me.”

“He was staring at you.”

He coughs on a mouthful of butter-beer and has to cover his mouth from spewing it all over Mikey, “N-no. You’re not – you can’t seriously be on about that still?”

Mikey hands him a napkin, “I’m telling you, Frank. My brother wants nothing more than to – to be all girly over you. He wants to hold your hand, blush when you look at him—which he already does—and conform to your every will.”

Frank’s heart is breaking, “Stop. Just please fucking stop.”

Mikey’s face is pained, “You like him, Frank. You really like him. And he likes you! I don’t see what the holdup is.”

Frank scowls, “Well, if he _did_ like me, which he doesn’t, it might have something to do with the fact that he called me a mudblood and never really apologized for it.”

Then Mikey says something that Frank was not expecting, “But if he did?”

“Then I guess…” Frank looks into his mug, “I guess – I’m not really sure.”


	15. Shooting Stars Leave Burning Scars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ‘Shooting stars aren’t always beautiful.’
> 
>  
> 
> Shit. Shit no. Fuckfuckfuck. Shit fuck! This is not good. This is not good at all!

 “I said I’ll check in tomorrow if I don’t wake up dead.” – _ _Fall Out Boy; Alone Together__  


* * *

When Frank gets back to the Room of Reformation, Gerard isn’t there. He frowns; they’re not supposed to leave unless they absolutely _have to_. Actually, they weren’t even supposed to go to Hogsmeade, but they’ve been so good about staying in that McGonagall decided to overlook this one. Frank drags himself up the stairs and to the bathroom. He turns on the water and watches the tub fill up. He strips off his dirty clothes and sinks down into the water, sighing almost sexually.

Too fucking good.

After his bath is over, Frank gets dressed and heads down the stairs. He’s surprised to see Gerard sitting on the couch, and he’s _really_ surprised to see that he’s fucking crying. In his hands are two pieces of paper and he’s trying to hold in the tears as best as he can. Frank grows concerned, “Gerard?”

Gerard almost falls out of his seat, “Frank! I – er, hi.” He wipes away his tears.

“Are you okay?” Frank raises one eyebrow but doesn’t attempt to move any closer. Gerard looks conflicted and eventually he says, “Um… no? But it doesn’t matter so it’s fine.” And that really fucking makes Frank upset.

“Are you sure? I mean, itmatters if it makes you upset.”

“Frank—”

“I’m not gonna just leave it so you might as well tell me.” Gerard can see the anger rising in Frank and he just doesn’t get it. They’re not friends, they’re not together, they’re just two kids who used to hate each other—or still do—living in a dorm together. Nothing more, nothing less.

“I’m sorry.” Gerard’s expression is pained, “I can’t.”

“Can’t? Or won’t?”

Gerard hesitates, “Shouldn’t.”

Frank makes a frustrated sound and runs his hands through his damp hair, “You’re not going to tell me anything? Nothing at all?”

“No. No, and I’m so sorry, but I can’t. I can’t, I shouldn’t, and I won’t.”

Frank shakes his head, “You know, Gerard, sometimes people want to care, but if you don’t let them they won’t ever try to care again.”

Gerard’s voice grows uncharacteristically cold, “Good. I don’t want people to care. They shouldn’t. I’m not worth worrying about.”

“Jesus Christ, you’re such a fucking idiot sometimes!” Frank cannot stand to see him like this! Part of Frank wants to just love Gerard and make all the pain go away, but another part of him knows that can’t happen and kinda wants to punch Gerard right in his goddamned face.

“W-what?” Gerard’s head is reeling.

“Don’t you see?”

He’s so fucking sick of all of this, “See what?!”

“What’s right in front of you!” _That I love you, you fucking idiot!_ “I know you can see it.” _I want you to see it_ … “Maybe you just don’t understand it.”

“Okay well,” Gerard starts slowly, “I don’t really know what to say to that.”

“Oh I don’t know, maybe you could say ‘I’m sorry that I’m being a selfish asshole, Frank. How can you ever forgive me?’ Yeah I think that’d work.” Frank knows he isn’t being fair, but it feels so good to get all this anger out. Fuck, it feels amazing.

“A selfish asshole?!” Gerard stands up and the papers in his hand are crushed in his fists, “What the fuck is going on right now? I haven’t done anything!”

“That’s why I’m angry! You haven’t done _anything_!” _You haven’t seen what I’m fucking shoving right in your fucking face_!

“Wh—”

Frank doesn’t want to hear it, “You know what? I really fucking hope that couch is comfortable because that’s where you’re sleeping tonight.”

Gerard gapes at him, “You can’t _make_ me sleep down here!”

“Oh really? Watch me!” Frank turns on his heel and stomps back up the steps.

That night, Gerard slept on the couch.

In the morning, Frank wakes up feeling uneasy about what happened the night before; he could have gone about that in so many different ways. He didn’t need to be such a fucking asshole but he was just frustrated. That shouldn’t justify his actions, but he wants it to. He wants to take the guilt away. But that doesn’t happen, especially after he walks downstairs and sees that Gerard isn’t there and that a note is sitting neatly on the coffee table. He picks it up with shaking hands, takes a deep breath and opens it.

 

‘ _Frank… something you said really made me think about things, and it put my life into a different perspective. If anything should happen between the time that you read this and the time it takes for you to understand, I want you to tell Mikey that I love him. Tell him I love him and that he was right about everything, as usual. Those atop the highest tower fall the hardest. Maybe one day you’ll see._

_Yours truly, Gerard._ ’

 

He turns it over to see if there’s anything else and he sees that in the bottom left, Gerard has left a tiny sentence that Frank can only barely discern.

 

‘ _Shooting stars aren’t always beautiful_.’

 

Shit. Shit no. Fuckfuckfuck. Shit fuck! This is not good. This is not good _at all_! All this means is that Gerard is going to do something really fucking stupid that will make Frank regret even being born. Frank doesn’t put shoes on or change his clothes or brush his teeth or comb his hair. He doesn’t run to Ravenclaw Tower or the Gryffindor common room or even the headmaster’s office. He heads straight to the Astronomy Tower, pushing aside anyone who happens to be in his way.

When he bursts through the door, he’s so out of breath that he’s seeing stars but all he can think is ‘ _I’m going to lose the love of my life. I’m going to lose the love of my life. And it’s all my fault._ ’ He runs forward, grabs Gerard’s hand and yanks him off the ledge. They both fall to the ground and the second Frank regains some balance, he reels his hand back and slaps Gerard across the face . “You… are so… fucking… stupid… I don’t… even…”

Gerard is bewildered, “I don’t—”

Frank waves his hand frantically, “Just shut the fuck up… and let me breathe.” When Frank finally stops panting, he pinches the bridge of his nose and refuses to look at Gerard. “Why – how did – what made you think this was a good idea?!”

Gerard is silent for so long that Frank thinks he’s scared shitless. However, then Gerard begins to speak and Frank can just hear both of their hearts breaking into a billion tiny pieces. “I felt lost. Too many things in my head.” Gerard shakes his head and looks into the sky, “I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t think straight. I could hardly breathe. I’m such an inconvenience to everyone and everything around me.” He shrugs and looks at Frank like it’s no fucking deal, “I figured you’d be better off.”

Frank rushes forward and grabs the front of Gerard’s shirt, pushing him against the wall, “Don’t act like you fucking know what’s best for me!” It’s then that Frank realizes he’s crying. There are tears streaming down his face and Gerard is confused beyond belief. Frank wants to slap him again, but doesn’t. He pushes against Gerard as hard as possible, not caring if he couldn’t breathe, “Do you comprehend the amount of guilt I feel right now? Do you understand how much I want to murder you for scaring me like that? Do you know how desperately I want to lock you in a closet until you come to your fucking senses? Do you know how scared I am to leave you alone now?!” He can hear the hysterics in his voice and it then occurs to Frank just how much Gerard actually means to him. He’s literally Frank’s lifeline. If he dies, Frank dies with him.

Gerard’s eyes shine, “Frank I didn’t know—”

“Did you ever stop to think that maybe, just _maybe_ someone cares?”

Gerard finally snaps and pushes Frank away causing the younger boy to fall to the ground, “No! I didn’t! I didn’t think about that because I figured it wasn’t something to think about! I don’t _want_ people caring!” Frank looks up at him with a look of complete and utter shock, “Why should _my_ problems be more important than anyone else’s? That’s all I am, Frank! An inconvenient problem.”

Gerard slumps to the floor. Frank crawls forward and takes his hand, “Is that really what you think?”

“Yes,” Gerard’s voice breaks. “You don’t know what you do to me, Frank Iero. I’m losing my mind here and you will _never_ _know_ _why_!”

And Frank still can’t put two and two together. “Maybe I won’t, but if you ever try to kill yourself ever again, I’m going to stop you, and then I’m going to murder you, and then I’m going to punish myself every day after that because it was _my_ fucking job to protect you and I failed.”

Gerard smiles at him tiredly, “I feel like it’s just not your job to protect me.” Frank lunges forward and hugs Gerard tightly, surprising them both. He mutters into Gerard’s shirt, “I don’t care what you ‘feel’. I _want_ to and we both know that I do whatever I want.”


	16. Save Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Mr. Iero, I believe you requested to see me?”
> 
> “Yes headmaster,” Frank nods frantically. Then he bites his lip and eventually says, “I need help.”

“Would you carry me to the end?” - _ _My Chemical Romance; To The End__

* * *

It has been two days since the morning that Gerard Way attempted to kill himself, and Frank has not told a soul. He hasn’t acted any weirder around Gerard than he normally would, he hasn’t been tip-toeing around any certain subjects, and he’s still dying from the inside out because he’s helplessly in love. Gerard is also dying from a longing heart, but Frank will never know that.

He keeps waiting for Frank to tell someone about what happened, and absolutely nothing happens. He is going fucking _insane_ and the anxiety is too fucking much for him. He’s always expecting Mikey to walk up to him and punch him in the face for being a stupid idiot. Nothing happens. So he decides that he’s just going to confront Frank about it. They’re sitting on the couch, Frank doing homework, and Gerard just kinda watching him. Frank isn’t creeped out. He’s used to it.

“What’s the deal, Frank?”

He looks up from his Transfiguration essay and blinks, “What?”

Gerard bites his lip, “You haven’t told anybody. It’s freaking me the fuck out. What the hell is going on?”

Frank’s face melts into a smile of pure fondness, “Why would I tell someone? It’s not my news to tell.”

“Oh. Really?”

“Yeah. I mean, it was scary as shit and I’m not joking about what I said but you haven’t been scaring me lately. I don’t see any risk in not telling. If you wanted Mikey to know, you would have told him already.”

Gerard shakes his head in disbelief and when he looks back at Frank, his face is a mask of awe, “You’re… you’re amazing, did you know that?”

Frank blushes, “No, but thanks for the information.” So the two of them just get back into the swing of things and all is peaceful in the world. They go to classes and Quidditch practice, and there are two more games over the course of the rest of the week. Ravenclaw vs Gryffindor where Gryffindor fucking _slaughters_ Ravenclaw. And in the Slytherin vs Hufflepuff game, there’s a surprise turn of events Patrick catches the snitch in record-breaking time; literally two minutes into the game. Gerard and Frank are getting closer and basically becoming best friends as they have normal or pointless or casual conversations and they don’t have any major fights.

But Frank is getting worried.  Gerard’s attention is slowly slipping; he’s literally going insane over Frank. He hasn’t done any homework in weeks, he’s almost kicked off the Quidditch team, the Slytherins are giving him shit, and Frank is seriously worried that he might try to… y’know. The only thing he can do is talk to Gerard about it, so that’s exactly what he does. One night while they’re both lying in bed, and playing a strange game of Marco-Polo, Frank stares up at the ceiling and casually says, “Gerard I have to tell someone.”

Gerard bolts upright and flings himself across the gap between their beds, practically attacking Frank, “Frank no! Please don’t!” He grabs Frank’s hand, squeezing it and pleads with him solely though his eyes.

Frank sighs and scrubs his other hand over his face, “I can’t stand seeing you like this. I just – I can’t. I’ve been doing everything in my power to try and make it better, but you won’t let me!” When he looks at Gerard, they’re both shocked to find tears in his eyes. Gerard slumps forward, resting his head on the edge of the bed.

“I’m sorry,” he says tiredly. “I-I… please just don’t tell Mikey.”

He withdraws his hand from Gerard’s grip and pats him on the head lovingly, “Don’t worry. I won’t.” In the morning, before Gerard even has the subconscious thought of waking up, Frank sneaks downstairs and quietly makes his way to Dumbledore’s office. When he arrives, Dumbledore doesn’t even seem half surprised to see him.

“Mr. Iero, I believe you requested to see me?”

“Yes headmaster,” Frank nods frantically. Then he bites his lip and eventually says, “I need help.”

Dumbledore considers this, “Explain to me the nature of your issue.”

“A friend of mine – well he... I don’t know how to say this.”

Dumbledore gives him a knowing look, “I would suggest bluntness for I believe that making things sound too nice will cause others to assume that you are not completely serious, and this seems like a serious matter.”

“Sir, a few days ago he attempted to kill himself,” Frank isn’t looking at him, but if he had been, he would have seen—for the first time—a look of shock on his face. “He almost walked straight off the Astronomy Tower. I made him promise to get better. He said he would but he’s not. He’s failing his classes, he’s losing his focus and his energy…” Frank’s face is pained, “It hurts me to see him like this.”

“I see,” Dumbledore murmurs. “Well I understand and appreciate you coming to me but I do not see what I can do to help.”

But Frank had been thinking this through all night. He didn’t sleep at all. “I need permission to – permission to supervise him. As long as I’m around, nothing can happen.”

“And you have been able to supervise him thus far?”

“Y-yes, sir.” There’s a stupid lump in Frank’s throat that won’t go away.

“This wouldn’t have anything to do with Mr. Way, would it?”

Frank sighs, “Well… yes.”

“You’ve taken quite a fondness of him, haven’t you?”

His initial reaction is to lie, but, like, c’mon! This is Dumbledore! “I… yes.”

“Is he aware of these feelings you harbor towards him?”

“No.”

“Are you aware of the feelings he harbors towards _you_?”

Frank looks up at him in bewilderment, “What? Oh no. You’ve been talking to Mikey haven’t you?” It would be just like that kid to fucking mess up everything and anything he can just because he can’t stay out of other people’s business.

But Dumbledore ignores his question, “Do you always doubt one’s ability to care for you, Mr. Iero?”

“Always, sir,” Frank says firmly. “Always.”

Dumbledore stands up and approaches him. He stands up as well and his expression is hopeful. “I will grant you your request, Mr. Iero, for I do believe your intentions are justified and your emotions pure.”

“Thank you so much, sir,” he knows there’s an obnoxiously bright smile on his face but he can’t bring himself to care all that much, “I-I don’t know how to repay you.”

“Just promise me this: there will come a time when you are forced to make a very difficult decision and the right answer may not seem right.” He takes a deep breath and looks at Frank over the top of his glasses. “Promise you’ll make the right choice.”

“I will. I promise I will.” Frank doesn’t care what the fucking decision is. He’ll make the right goddamned choice as long as he gets to save Gerard.

“Then I will let Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape know that you and Mr. Way will have an indefinite stay in The Room of Reformation until such a time I see fit that you two may part ways and return to your common rooms.” He ushers Frank to the door, “You two will still not be allowed to eat in the Great Hall and I’m afraid you will still have to spend your free periods in confinement.”

Frank really didn’t mean to say what slipped out next, “I would spend every second of the day in that room as long as I knew he was safe.”

“I’m sure you would, Mr. Iero. I am sure you would. Now good day,” Frank turns to leave but Dumbledore stops him, “Oh, and if this works as it should, I may find myself in the predicament of forcing you two back to your common rooms. Keep that in mind, Frank.”

“I will, sir.” Frank believes him. After spending so long with Gerard, Frank will go insane and kill himself if they can’t be together as much as they are now. “Thank you again!”


	17. You’re a Saint, Mikeyway

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What the shit?

“I cried tears you’ve never seen, so fuck you! You can go cry me an ocean and leave me be.” – _Fall Out Boy; Save Rock and Roll_  

* * *

“Frank, what did you do?” Gerard basically jumps him when he gets back to their room. Frank’s first instinct is to punch him, but then he see’s it’s Gerard and relaxes. He shrugs, “What do you mean?”

Gerard shakes his shoulders, “You know what I mean!”

Frank carefully pries himself out of Gerard’s grip and slips past him, sitting down on the couch. Beelzebub runs up and curls up on his lap. Frank looks down as he pets the cat lightly, “Okay, first of all I don’t respond to anger.”

“I know, I know! I’m sorry.” Gerard falls to his knees right in front of Frank.

“Secondly, I did what I thought was best.” Frank’s eyes flicker to him and then back to the happily purring cat that was perched on his lap. “And Mikey doesn’t know so I didn’t break any promises.”

“But what did you _do_?” Gerard’s hand finds its way to Frank’s kneed and he absentmindedly strokes it, “I literally have no idea.”

“Oh! I went to Dumbledore and – and I told him that I was worried about you.” Frank has to mentally beat himself to keep from looking at Gerard. “I told him that as long as I was around, you’d be safe.” He knew that if he looked at Gerard, he wouldn’t be able to stop those three words from slipping past his lips. “He told me he would extend our punishment indefinitely so that I could… y’know.”

“Keep an eye on me?”

Frank shrugs, “Well, yeah. You’re my friend so…”

“Thanks.”

“Anytime.” And so for the next two months they live together, and Frank keeps an eye on him, and things go back to that normal routine, and everything seems great. But then the last Quidditch game of the season comes up. It’s Slytherin vs Gryffindor and, just like every other time they’ve played each other, Gryffindor wins.

Frank is addressing the crowd with a huge smile when it happens.

“Frank watch out!” He hears Harry’s voice over the roar of the crowd, and gives his friend a confused look before feeling something shove into his back _hard_. The last thing he thinks is, _What the shit_? before the ground rushes up to meet him.

“I think he’s waking up.”

“You say that every two minutes.”

“That’s not true! Besides, he actually _is_ waking up this time.”

“The both of you are going to kill me since that fall obviously didn’t.” Frank smiles at Bob and Mikey who are sitting to the left of his hospital bed. It’s slow at first, but then it’s a rapid pain building in his right leg. He looks down and sees it in a blood stained cast. He grimaces but doesn’t say anything.

“Are you okay?” Mikey asks, searching his face for signs of fucking heart failure or some shit like that. Mikey liked to worry over nothing.

“Yeah, dude. I’m fine.” Frank shrugs.

“Are you sure?” Bob asks him, giving him the typical ‘You’re-Fucking-Lying-You-Evil-Midget’ look.

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

They’re both silent before Bob says, “Uh, I don’t know, maybe because you fell two hundred feet and _broke your leg_?!”

Frank blinks, “Did we win?”

“Yeah.”

He smirks, “Then I’m fine.”

All three of them laugh, and then Bob says, “Did that hurt?”

Frank laughs, “Fuck yeah!”

“Then I’mnot.”

“Bob punched Draco.” Mikey says in a matter-of-fact tone. “Broke his nose actually.”

“Did you get in trouble for that?” He really hopes Bob didn’t get in trouble over him. It would be pointless. Frank was going to break Draco’s nose anyways, so why have _both_ of them get in trouble?

Bob shrugged, “Dumbledore pretended not to see.”

“McGonagall too,” Mikey adds.

“And Snape.”

“And Gabe.”

Now _that_ catches Frank by surprise, “What?!”

“Yeah. Gabe has this thing about knowing when he’s lost.”

Mikey scrunches up his nose in distaste, “He’ll be bitter about it.”

“But he’ll get over it.” That’s when Bob has to leave, but Mikey says he’ll stay. He tells Frank about how gross and bloody his leg was, and how awesome it would have been if it wasn’t, like, a life-threatening situation or something like that. Madam Pomfrey comes by and tries to shoo Mikey away, but Frank won’t let her. She then tells Mikey that he has to at least go stand by the door until she’s finished the last few spells to fix Frank’s leg.

When Mikey comes back, Frank isn’t in a cast, and he’s not bloody, but his leg is wrapped tightly with a bandage and he’s making his ‘This-Is-So-Boring’ face. “You allowed to leave now?” Mikey asks. Frank nods, and Mikey offers to help him up.

Frank decides he can just hitch a ride on Mikey’s back, and Mikey rolls his eyes but he doesn’t protest. Before Frank can hop on, though, Mikey stops him and hands him something. It’s a folded piece of paper. “Did you look at the other one?”

Frank rolls his eyes, “I didn’t get a chance.”

“Well go look at it, okay? This one too.”

“Why is it such a big deal?”

Mikey fidgets uncomfortably for a few seconds, “Like I’ve always said… I can’t give you the answers to everything.”

Frank throws his hands up in exasperation, “You haven’t given me an answer to anything!”

“Well this has nothing to do with me, okay? It’s just you. You and Gerard.”

“You’re not still on about that are you?”

Mikey grabs Frank’s wrist and looks at him. The look in his eye could kill, “Frank, listen to me. I may not be able to stand my brother sometimes, but I will _not_ tolerate him being miserable.”

Frank’s voice is small and sad, “Are you saying I’m making him miserable?”

“That’s _exactly_ what I’m saying!”

Then he gets angry because why should he feel bad about this? Mikey’s delusional! Gerard does _not_ like him, and never will, and that’s what hurts the most. Frank glares at Mikey and rips his arm away, “Well sorry I’m such an inconvenience!”

“Goddamnit Frank can’t you ever just see what’s right in front of you?!”

“I don’t have to deal with this.” Then he turns around and starts to head up to his room. It’s painful; fuck it’s more painful than being kicked in the balls, but he’s not going to give in.

“Frank stop! You’re hurt. Don’t be an idiot.”

“That’s all I’m good at Mikeyway.” It takes Frank almost twenty minutes to get to the fifth floor and to the entrance to the Room of Reformation. He limps inside, feeling like he just wants to lay down and cry forever. But he doesn’t, because when he goes in, he finds Gerard looking very upset, talking to a man that Frank knows is Donald Way.

“…mudbloods in our family! They’re pathetic, and so are you.” Okay, Frank is _so_ not okay with this; who the fuck tells their kid that they’re pathetic? That’s horrible. It’s vulgar, and it’s making Frank see red. If this wasn’t an important Ministry official, Frank would have decked him by now.

He clears his throat, “Am I interrupting something?” At this, both Gerard and Donald Way turn to look at Frank.

“Frank!” Gerard exclaims in surprise. His father shoots him a sidelong glance and he looks away quickly.

“Gerard!” Frank replies, returning his unnecessary loudness. Then he looks at Mr. Way and nods. “Sir.” Mr. Way looks and examines Frank carefully before walking towards him slowly and smiling bitterly, “Excellently played game, Mr. Iero. I’m thoroughly impressed. You have a good bout of luck, don’t you?”

“Come now, Mr. Way,” Frank chides sarcastically. “No need to be polite. We’re all aware of how, what was the word? Oh yeah! ‘ _Pathetic_ ’ I am.” Then he glares at him, “Quidditch has nothing to do with luck. I don’t believe in luck. It’s a horrible excuse for garnering happiness and dissipating fear. Seems hard to believe a mudblood can be skilled at something other than stealing magic from those who rightfully own it, correct?”

The look on Mr. Way’s face tells Frank that the man is not used to being told off, especially from those of less importance or those younger than him. “You’re quite a well-spoken young man aren’t you?”

Frank’s face is stony. “I try.”

“And you’re in… Gryffindor, correct?” Frank doesn’t reply. “Well I can assure you that I believe Mr. Malfoy’s actions were unsuitable for such an event as this.”

“Oh no.” Frank shakes his head, “His actions were perfectly justified. Slytherin’s are sore losers. Isn’t that why Voldemort won’t just stay dead?”

Mr. Way’s face grows infuriated, and he takes a step forward. Frank doesn’t even blink, “Why you insolent little—”

“Dad!” Oh yeah. Frank almost forgot that Gerard was there. He was too wrapped up in his own anger to really pay attention, and he feels slightly guilty about it; here Frank is completely trash-talking his dad. Although, the man deserves it.

“Stay out of this, Gerard.”

“Yeah, stay out of this Gerard. Daddy’s a big boy. He can handle himself.” Frank is positive that he’s about to be murdered, but it feels so good to get these feelings out. It feels good to finally disown the man that made Gerard Way so biased against people he doesn’t even know. He may be disrespectful, and he may be going about it the wrong way, but he’s justified.

“I’d hate to be rude, Sir, but I suggest you take your exit now.” Mr. Way doesn’t argue, and Gerard doesn’t try to stop him when he finally does leave. His eyes are cold and murderous; in his eyes, Frank is already dead. A dead worthless piece of shit. Frank’s okay with it, though. He’s not a big fan of purist assholes who think they can do whatever the fuck they want.

“You really shouldn’t have done that.” Gerard says sadly.

“He deserved it,” Frank shrugs.

“Well, yes but…” Gerard gives Frank a once-over and notices the bandage and remembers. “Are – are you okay?” Gerard walks towards him, but then stops himself. “Will you – can you please just sit down, you’re going to give me a panic attack.” Frank tires to act tough, and walks normally to the couch before sitting down, and on the inside, Frank is ripping out his teeth with a plastic spoon. Fuck that hurts.

“Uh, _I’m_ fine.” Frank says, watching Gerard start to pace, “Are _you_ okay?”

Gerard doesn’t stop pacing, “No! You could have fucking _died_!”

“But I didn’t.”

“You could have!”

Frank is so fucking sick and tired of people today that he just finally kinda snaps, “Why are you freaking out? It’s not that big of a deal!”

Then Gerard stops, and looks like he’s going to explode before saying, “Yes it is, Frank! Yes it – you just don’t get it.”

Frank’s brows furrow in anger. “Obviously I don’t. Why do you care anyway? We’re not even friends.” Which is the biggest mistake that Frank has made in his entire existence. Of course they’re friends! Why wouldn’t they be? They’ve been _living together_ for the three months now and haven’t attempted to kill each other! They’ve been through thick and thin and they’re all each other has. Frank really fucked up this time. He feels like the biggest asshole in the world, and wants to apologize, but he doesn’t seem to find his voice.

Gerard is completely silent as he stares at Frank. Then he turns around and stumbles out of the room. Frank almost tries to remind Gerard that he’s not allowed to leave the room for anything other than classes and Quidditch, but he also figures that saying _that_ is not the best thing at a time like this.

Frank is completely stressed out because he’s literally fucked up his entire life now, and to top it all off he’s in the worst mental, emotional, and physical pain he’s ever experienced in his entire life. Since Gerard is gone, Frank just decides to break down and cry. His entire mind stops working and all he can do is cry over how much his leg hurts, and how much his head hurts, and how much his heart hurts, and how stupid he is, and how stupidly beautiful Gerard’s face is, and how stupidly sexy he is, and how he makes Frank feel, and how everything sucks.

It’s late, and he’s dead anyways, so Frank cries himself to sleep on the couch. The next day, he doesn’t wake up until eleven, and when he tries to get off the couch he almost screams in pain because he just didn’t remember that part of his body was trying to commit suicide. Frank feels something in his pocket and he realizes it’s the paper that Mikey gave him.

 _Better late than never_ … he opens it and inside is a poem. It’s titled _The World is Ugly_ and at the bottom it’s signed ‘G. Way’. Frank reads it, and he’s crying hysterically by the time he gets to the end of the page, and right below Gerard’s signature is a note that says, “I care so fucking much that it hurts, and he’ll never even know.”

The note confuses Frank because doesn’t Gerard like a girl? This doesn’t make any sense. It hurts like a bitch, but Frank manages to get up, go upstairs and get the other note Mikey gave him. He sits back down on the couch before opening it, and when he does, his breath catches in his throat. It’s the most amazing thing he’s ever seen in his entire life… it’s a picture (a drawing actually) of himself, walking down the hall, and just smiling. There’s something about it that makes his heart skip a beat, and his head turn in circles, and his stomach flip-flop all over the goddamned place.

However, he thinks his head is spinning because he’s so fucking confused. He knows that Gerard drew it. Gerard is the only person Frank knows with artistic abilities. But why Frank? _Why?!?!_

He thinks back to the conversation he and Gerard had about that girl, and certain parts of it stick out in his mind. He remembers what Gerard said.

“She’s more like you…”

“I don’t think she’d like me back…”

“She’s muggle born…”

“I don’t want her to be ridiculed by my family. I want her to feel safe. I want her to stay…”

“Mikey _doesn’t_ care. He’s the one telling me to do this, remember?...” And finally everything Mikey’s been saying, everything Gerard’s been doing, and everything he’s been missing comes into clear focus. He should be shouting and crying with joy right about now—the boy he’s absolutely head-over-heels for is in love with him!—but all he can do is think, _Fuck_. Because he _really_ messed up this time. He has the feeling that Dumbledore is sitting in his office just thinking about little Frank Iero who broke the only promise he’s ever really meant. Before he can dwell on it any longer, there’s a banging on the door, “Frank! Frank let me in!” It’s Mikey.

He feels apprehensive and vulnerable, so naturally he’s about to turn into the biggest asshole on the planet, “What the fuck do you want?” He walks over to the door and lets Mikey in.

Mikey starts, “Gerard…”

“He’s not here.”

“I know, that’s why I’m here.” _Huh?_ Frank thinks in confusion. “He’s in the hospital.”

His world comes to a standstill and he can’t think, “What?! Why?!”

“I know I said I was going to let you figure it out on your own, but this has gone too far.”

“I don’t—”

“Gerard is in love with you.”

“Um…” _I know that_ …

“No. Don’t even try to tell me otherwise.” Mikey can be pretty fucking terrifying when he wants to be, “I’m sick of sitting here in the middle of all of this. He’s in love with you, and you’re in love with him, so why can’t you two just start dating and save all of us the pain of tiptoeing around your goddamned feelings?!”

Frank’s mouth is dry, “Why’s he in the hospital?”

“Dislocated jaw and a broken nose.”

He chokes on nothing, “Oh my God. Oh. My. God! Why?!”

“He took your advice.”

Frank starts to panic, and doesn’t even care that Mikey blamed him for this. At this point, everything is Frank’s fault. Voldemort is Frank’s fault. Umbridge is Frank’s fault. World War II is Frank’s fault. “So this is _my_ fault?!”

Mikey tries to calm him down, “It’s not _completely_ your fault. However, Gerard _did_ listen to when you said he needed to prove his feelings and tell his friends.”

Things are clicking faster and faster in Frank’s head nowadays, “Oh no. He didn’t…”

“Oh yes. He did.”

He’s almost afraid to ask, “Who was it?”

“Bert.”

Frank scowls, “I’ve always hated that guy.”

“So does Gerard.”

Frank feels miserable, “Mikey what do I do?”

Mikey smiles at him. “You can do whatever the fuck you want. He’s gonna love you either way.”

Frank smiles weakly back at him, “You’re a saint, Mikeyway.”

“So I’ve been told.”


	18. This Is You, And You’re Part Of Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Is this—” he cuts off. “Is this going somewhere? I mean, are we ever going to amount to something? Because I’d rather not get involved at all if… if I’m just going to get hurt.”
> 
> [WARNING: THIS IS THE SEXY TIMES]

“Give it to you till you’re screaming my name […] Can you handle what I’m ‘bout to do, ‘cause it’s about to get rough for you […] I bet you thought I was soft and sweet; thought an angel swept you off your feet. […] Take the pain, take the pleasure: I’m the master of both.” - _ _Adam Lambert; For Your Entertainment__

* * *

It’s a few hours later and Mikey is making his way back to Ravenclaw tower. Frank is, painfully, pacing back and forth and going through any possible idea to fix this gigantic fuck up. He doesn’t hear Gerard come in, and even after Gerard says, “What are you doing?” He still didn’t stop. Just keeps pacing.

Gerard looks around, confused, and thinks, _I’m the only fucking person here. What the hell is wrong with him? How could he_ not _know I’m standing here?!_ He takes a few steps towards Frank and says, “Frank. _Frank_. Frankie!” Ah, now _that_ seems to get to him. He stops abruptly, and his head snaps towards Gerard who just smiles shyly at him. “S-sorry.”

Frank shakes his head, “No it’s fine, it’s—” He stops suddenly.

“Yes?” Gerard prompts, taking another step towards Frank.

Frank’s eyes are wide with nervousness, “I was – I was going to say it’s s-sweet.” His face flushes and he clears his throat, shifting his weight from foot to foot in discomfort.

“O-okay, um… Frankie.” They smile at each other for a second and then look away. Gerard looks at him out of the corner of his eye and says, “Does your leg still hurt?”

“Like the Cruciatus curse.” Frank shrugs.

“You shouldn’t be putting weight on it,” Gerard sounds concerned, and his face reflects as much. He takes another step towards Frank who says, “I don’t think I can move.” Gerard smiles at him and takes the last three steps to meet him. Gerard turns around and points to his back, “Get on.”

Frank is shocked into silence, but he complies. Gerard takes him upstairs and sets him on his bed and then sits next to him. Frank turns to face him and looks at him for a moment, “Mikey told me what happened.”

Gerard snorts and shakes his head, “Figures. That kid can’t stay out of anyone’s business.” Frank laughs at that and then grows quiet. Carefully he reaches out and touches the side of Gerard’s face. “Does your jaw hurt?”

Gerard’s gone completely still and his voice is a whisper when he says, “No.” Frank scoots closer and turns Gerard’s head so they’re eye-to-eye.

“What about your nose?” Frank’s voice is a whisper too, and his eyes keep flickering between Gerard’s lips and his eyes.

“Not – not really.” Frank’s completely puzzled as to when their faces became centimeters away, but he’s not one to question anything that’s in his best interest.

“Good,” Frank breathes. He grabs the front of Gerard’s shirt, squeezes his eyes shut, and smashes his lips against Gerard’s. Something incredibly magical—in every sense of the word—explodes inside both of them, but Gerard is a little… well he’s a little scared.

He grabs Frank’s shoulders and pulls back, eyes wide and pupils dilated, “What – what’re you doing?” He asks, breathing hard.

Frank looks at him with bright eyes and shrugs, “Making a love potion.” Then he’s back on Gerard, mouth attached to the side of his neck, and shifting his position so he’s straddling Gerard. His dick is already throbbing with the anticipation of what is to happen, and it’s a little embarrassing.

Gerard whines and his ragged breath brushes Frank’s face. His hands find their way under Frank’s shirt, and all he can do is just _touch_. Frank leans so far into Gerard that they fall backwards—which is fine by them—but Frank’s lips never once leave Gerard’s neck as they make their way from the hollow of his neck to his lips. Gerard deepens the kiss and slows it down to an almost agonizing rate. Frank has been waiting too long to sit there and take this kind of torture.

He pulls at Gerard’s shirt and Gerard takes the hint. He sits up and pulls his shirt off. Frank takes this opportunity to take his shirt of as well, and when he looks at Gerard—hair all askew and cheeks flushed—he can’t help but just stare. His eyes wander to the silver chain around Gerard’s neck, and for some reason he feels tears well up in his eyes. A few seconds later Gerard clears his throat, but Frank still doesn’t notice; he just keeps staring.

“Frank.”

Nothing.

“Frank.”

Silence.

“Frankie?” Then Frank jumps slightly, meeting Gerard’s worried eyes and flushing bright red. Gerard smiles warily and brushes Frank’s hair away from his face. “Are you okay?”

Frank swallows hard and reaches out to grab the silver skull. Gerard looks down to see what he’s doing and when their eyes meet, Frank is smiling. “You kept it?”

“Well,” Gerard started. “Well yeah. Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”

“I just… I didn’t know if you knew,” Frank swallowed again. “I mean, I didn’t know if you knew I gave it to you.”

“I didn’t,” Gerard smiles. “I just assumed that it was from you, and I didn’t want to get rid of something like that.”

“Even after what I did to you?”

Gerard kisses him softly, “ _Especially_ after what you did.”

“Is this—” he cuts off. “Is this going somewhere? I mean, are we ever going to amount to something? Because I’d rather not get involved at all if… if I’m just going to get hurt.” _Even if that means I literally have to jack off to the image of you every fucking day for the rest of my life_. He wanted to say that, but he decided against it. It might ruin the moment.

“I like you Frank,” Gerard says decisively. “I like you a lot, but I’m not sure we feel the same way.” _Oh no_ , Frank thinks. _This is exactly what I was afraid of_. Then Gerard says something that really shocks him, “I mean, I’d spend every day of my life with you if I could. I just don’t know how _you_ feel.”

Frank shifts just the tiniest bit and is suddenly reminded of the major problem in his pants. He opens his mouth, “I – I…uh,” he licks his lips, “I – I-I…”

“You?” Gerard prompts.

He runs his hands through Gerard’s hair and kisses him. However, he just won’t _stop_ kissing Gerard, and then it’s a matter of gnashing teeth and ragged breathing. Both their hard-on’s are straining in their jeans, and so many questions are left unanswered. Between kisses, Frank says, “I want you. I want to be with you. Every day, for the rest of my days. I want to be yours,” his hands fall on the button of Gerard’s pants, “Completely yours,” he pops the button and nearly rips the zipper, “In every. Way. Possible.” He kisses Gerard deeply before tugging at his pants and saying, “Off. Now.”

Frank rolls off Gerard and they both remove their pants, now just clad in boxers. Frank turns to look at Gerard who’s staring at him with wide lust-filled, yet nervous, eyes. “Are we going to – y’know…?”

“Mhmm,” Frank nods and lays down on the bed, resting his back against the pillows and gesturing for Gerard to come closer. Slowly, Gerard crawls his way over and sits right in front of him. “Hey Gerard?”

“Yeah, Frankie?”

“C’mere.” So Gerard does, leaning over Frank, right between his legs. Frank reaches up and touches Gerard’s face, running his fingers over the smooth skin. Gerard closes his eyes and turns his head to kiss the center of Frank’s palm. Frank’s hand finds its way behind Gerard’s head and pulls him closer. It’s a simple kiss, but almost immediately does it turn dirty.

Gerard lays down on top of Frank, pressing his dick against Frank’s, who puts his legs around Gerard and hooks his ankles. Very slowly but surely, Frank lifts his hips and grinds against Gerard.

The friction created between them is almost enough to make Gerard come right then and there and he moans into Frank’s mouth, “ _Fuck_.”

Frank pulls back and smiles at him wickedly, “Yes that is the general idea.”

“Wh-what?!” Gerard looks like he’s going to keel over.

Frank reaches between them and palms his hand over Gerard’s cock, “I want you to do something for me, okay?” Gerard’s mouth is slack and he just nods and moans again. Frank hooks his fingers around the elastic of Gerard’s underwear and whispers, “Fuck me.”

“Yes,” Gerard moans. “ _Yes_! Oh, God yes.” He quickly rids himself of his underwear, and Frank does as well. They’re both left just staring at each other, their cocks throbbing and leaking with pre-cum. “Do you have—”

“Yeah, yeah in the drawer.” Gerard rummages around for a few seconds before pulling out a tiny bottle of lube and giving Frank a questioning look.

“It was a Christmas present,” Frank shrugs. Gerard’s eyes bug out of his head and Frank shakes his head, smiling, “It was actually a little shove in the right direction that happened to come in the form of a present on Christmas… from your brother.”

“Oh, God. Mikey,” Gerard’s face is disgusted.

“I know,” Frank nods. “That’s what I said.”

“Don’t you want a condom?” He blushes slightly when he says it.

Frank shakes his head, his eyes growing dark, “I want to feel you come inside of me. I want you to make me yours.” Gerard groans and uncaps the bottle, pouring some into his hand slicking his dick completely. He puts one finger against Frank’s entrance and looks up questioningly. Frank nods rapidly, and Gerard presses inside. He works one finger in before adding another.

Frank squirms and his breath comes rapidly and shallowly. Gerard experiments with finger positioning, and watches Frank’s face carefully; he crooks his finger and Frank yelps slightly. He smirks. After a few seconds of stimulation, Frank’s gripping the sheets so hard his knuckles are white, and he growls, “Get. Your dick. Inside of me. **_Now_**.”

Gerard wastes no time in complying, and lines his cock up with the entrance. “Frankie, I’m sorry. This could hurt.”

“Good,” Frank shrugs. “I’m a bit of a sadomasochist. Feel free to bite me.” Gerard thinks he’s going to pass out, and plunges his dick all the way into Frank without a warning. Frank yelps again, and he doesn’t breathe. He doesn’t move. He doesn’t do anything for a few seconds, just getting used to the feeling. Gerard’s having an incredibly hard time staying still and staying composed when all he can feel is heat and friction; he might actually implode if he doesn’t do something soon. Frank looks at him, “Gerard?”

“Y-yes?”

“Fuck. Me.” _No need to tell me twice_! Gerard moves, slowly at first—just pulling out slightly and pushing back in. This gets Frank pretty peeved, “I’m not made of glass, Gerard. I told you to _fuck me_ , and I want you to fuck me _hard_.”

“Jesus Christ, Frankie,” Gerard moans. He pulls almost all the way out and slams back in, ramming Frank harder every time he pushes back in. His rhythm gets thrown off and it’s uneven, but Frank doesn’t even care. He wraps his hand around his own cock, and gasps at the contact; Frank is so over stimulated that he might start crying.

“Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck,” Frank mutters over and over. “Oh shit. Oh fuck. Oh yeah, _yeah_ , _ah_ , _uh_.” He’s so vocal that Gerard starts to blush at how closely it’s dragging him to the edge. Frank sounds like a porn star with all the moaning and breathy whines, and the way he’s touching himself, and Gerard—who is fucking Frank so hard that it almost hurts—thinks he’s about to come. Frank can sense this and tells him, “Gerard Way you will **_not_** come _until I say so_ , do you hear me?!”

Gerard nods frantically but continues to fuck Frank and listen to him groan. Gerard angles himself slightly and Frank almost screams in pleasure, “ _Jesus_ _motherfucking_ **_Christ_**!” A string of profanities leaves his mouth, and Gerard blushes again; he’s heard vulgar language before, but _nothing_ as dirty as this. Frank pulls him down and kisses him fiercely, sucking on his tongue and nipping his bottom lip.

Gerard tenses and Frank can just tell he’s about to come, and there’s no stopping it, so Frank starts to pump his own cock faster, and wants to speed up his coming process so he gasps a few times and growls at Gerard, “ _Bite_ _me_.” And that’s about what does it for both of them. The second that Gerard’s teeth sink into his shoulder, ribbons of white-hot come are spurting all over Frank’s fingers, and Frank can feel Gerard come inside of him and shudders. Gerard takes Frank’s hand and sucks the come off his fingers, and Frank moans again, “Oh, yeah. Oh, fuck yeah, Gee. Oh, fuck…”

Gerard pulls out and collapses next to Frank. He leans over and kisses Frank who kisses him lazily and sloppily back. They’re both panting and Gerard says, “Did you call me ‘Gee’?”

“Oh, yeah,” Frank blushes. “Sorry.”

“No, it’s – it’s cute.” He coughs slightly, “Although, I’m pretty sure every time you call me that, all I’ll be able to think of is your face when you’re coming.”

“And that’s a problem because…?”

Gerard laughs, “It’s not. Just don’t call me that in front of other people.” And the second he’s said it, he knows he’s made a horrible mistake. Now all Frank will call him is ‘Gee’ and it’s going to ruin his life. “I mean, I mean—”

“I know what you meant.” Frank smirks. “And I’m sorry you didn’t think before you said it. Actions have consequences.” He turns on his side and looks at Gerard, “How vocal do you think you’d be if I sucked your dick?”

Gerard closes his eyes and takes a deep, shuddering breath, “Very.”

Frank purses his lips, “We’ll just have to work on that, won’t we?” Gerard groans, and Frank laughs before saying, “We’re really disgusting. We should probably take a bath.” Gerard groans again, but this time for a very different reason.

“Do we have to move?”

Frank smiles and kisses him, biting his bottom lip, “Yes.” It takes a bit more convincing on Frank’s behalf, but eventually Gerard is standing up and stretching. He walks around the bed and stands in front of Frank who can’t do anything but stare at him. “Y’know,” he starts, “I have enough in my spank bank to last me a couple weeks, but… that whole love potion thing? We didn’t make it right.”

Gerard holds his hand out and Frank takes it, but when he stands up, his leg gives out. Luckily, Gerard catches him before he hits the floor and they smile at each other. Gerard helps him across the room to the bathroom, and asks him, “How’d we make it wrong?” He sets Frank on the toilet and starts the water. They both watch it pour into the abnormally large bathtub, and Frank says, “It wasn’t kinky enough. You should’ve bitten me harder.”

Gerard shuts off the water, kneels in front of him, and kisses him hard before pulling back and looking at him thoughtfully. He jerks his head towards the bedroom, “Wanna give it another go?”

Frank is silent as he looks at the tub and then back at Gerard. “Oh, God yes,” and pulls him close again, kissing him passionately. Gerard, without breaking the kiss, picks Frank up, and Frank wraps his legs around Gerard’s waist. They’re both already painfully hard and Gerard backs Frank against the wall. Frank lets his good leg touch the floor and leaves his other leg wrapped around Gerard. He tightens his leg around Gerard and rolls his hips slowly, leaning forward and sucking the sensitive skin behind his ear. “Fuck Frankie,” Gerard breathes.

“Yes,” Frank mumbles, reaching between them and grabbing both their cocks in his hand, “You will.” He squeezes them lightly and tugs a little; in terms of sadomasochism, Frank is a masochist, and all he wants is to fall into painful submission, but Gerard? He’s not there yet.

A few seconds later, Gerard lifts Frank up and positions him over his dick. Before Frank can sink down he tells Gerard, “I want you to fuck me so hard I forget which way is up. I want you to fuck me so hard I can’t sit down for a month. I want _you_ to fuck me _so hard_ , that I see stars behind my eyelids every time I blink.” Then something inside of Gerard snaps and he moves Frank away from the wall, rushing back to the bed as quickly as possible.

He pushes Frank down and his eyes flash, “On your hands and knees. Turn around _now_.” Frank smiles seductively and complies, sticking his ass in the air. Gerard doesn’t give warning and shoves himself into Frank. He doesn’t hesitate or slow down or stop to let Frank get comfortable. He just keeps ramming into Frank, drilling him into the mattress, and the most glorious string of porn pours out of Franks mouth in excess.

“Oh yeah,” Frank whines. “Fuck me, yeah, just like that. Right there, _right there_. Oh, oh, ah, uh, yeah. Fuck, oh shit! Are you gonna come inside me, Gerard? Huh, Gee? You gonna fuck me till I scream? Fuckfuckfuckfuck, shit yeah. Uh huh, uh huh, yeah, fuck me, yeah, yeah…” Gerard reaches around Frank and grabs his cock pumping as fast as he can. He nearly loses it hearing Frank talk like that, and just hits Frank’s prostate head-on, over and over and over again just to hear him _talk_.

“Gonna make me come, Gee? Huh? Fuck yeah, harder, harder, right there, just like that. Fuck, ah, uh, oh, oh, ooo, fuck, ah, yeah.” He starts to push back, meeting Gerard half way and panting so hard he might pass out. Gerard uses his other hand and tangles it in Frank’s hair, pulling up sharply. Frank yelps in pleasure and sits up, lifting himself up and back down again to help Gerard out.  Gerard twists his wrist and flicks his thumb over the head of Frank’s cock and now Frank is trying to thrust into Gerard’s hand _and_ bury Gerard’s cock in his ass, which actually proves to be a difficult feat.

Frank tenses—he knows he’s going to come—but before he can open his mouth to say something, Gerard bows his head and bites Frank so hard that it actually _does_ hurt, and Frank is coming so hard he actually _does_ see stars, and almost right after him Gerard is coming too, still biting down on Frank and thrusting until his orgasm is completely over. Frank pulls off him and turns around to kiss him; he kisses Gerard so deeply and so passionately that they both think they might come again, but they don’t and when Frank pulls back he’s breathing hard and says, “Now _that_ is the hottest thing I’ve ever done or thought about in my entire life.”

“Y’know,” Gerard says, kissing him again, “Pete told me that he thought you’d be great in bed because you’re so passionate.” He shakes his head and Frank looks at him with wide eyes, “Understatement of the _century_.”


	19. What You See Isn’t Always What You Get

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He points his wand towards Gerard: Legillimens.

“’Cause you’re my true love, my whole heart; please don’t throw that away.” – _ _The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus; Guardian Angel__

* * *

Pale light creeps in through the windows and every part of Frank’s body is aching in the best way possible. At first he wonders why, but then he remembers and smiles. Behind him he hears something and he feels the bed move. When he rolls over, Gerard kisses him and Frank smiles in content. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Gerard murmurs.

“Hey,” Frank says again.

Gerard laughs, “Hey.”

“Hey, guess what?”

“Hmm?”

Frank yawns and stretches a little, “We… have to go to classes today.”

“Ugh, can’t we just stay here?” Gerard sounds like a whiny five-year-old.

“No,” Frank says plainly.

“Five more minutes?”

“ _No_.”

Gerard frowns at him, “What time is it anyway?”

“It’s nine.”

Gerard gapes, “That leaves me another two hours! I think I can spare five minutes.” Frank shakes his head furiously and says, “No you can’t.”

“Why?”

Frank runs his fingers down Gerard’s chest and revels in the shudder it evokes. “Because _you_ are going to have sex with me.”

Gerard makes a face, “Who said I wanted to?”

Frank shrugs, “Fine.” He rolls away and stands up, “We can just never have sex again.” Before he can take even one step, Gerard’s arms are around his waist, pulling him backwards. Frank lets out a noise of protest.

“I was joking!” Gerard says, kissing his neck.

“I’m not a big fan of joking.” Frank tries to ignore how fucking amazing it feels.

“I’m sorry.”

“You’re going to have to do better than that.”

“Frank, I’m sorry. I was kidding.” He turns Frank around so they’re eye to eye and gives him a sad look, “Please, Frankie.”

Frank smirks, “Dude, I’m a hopeless romantic and you expect _that_ to work for me?” He laughs harshly and shakes his head. “No dice.”

“Please, Frankie!” Gerard honestly looks like he’s about to cry, and Frank feels so horrible. ‘”You were my first, and I want you to be my last; my only.” Gerard pushes the hair out of Frank’s eyes and kisses him lightly, “My life… my life was so dark and miserable, and you, well, you were my light.”

“Gee—”

“I’m serious Frank.”

“Okay,” he nods and smiles slightly, “Okay. I forgive you.”

“Thank you,” Gerard smiles in relief. After a second, he says, “Hey can I show you something?” Frank nods and they both get up to get dressed. It goes a lot slower than they wanted it to go since they couldn’t keep their fucking hands to themselves, but eventually Gerard was leading Frank by the hand up to the seventh floor. That went a lot slower than planned as well but it’s because Frank’s leg still refused to be nice.

When they reach the hallway they’re looking for, Gerard opens a door that Frank had never seen before in his entire life. When he steps inside he sees a blank room with a tall, rusty mirror in the middle of it. Frank approaches it with a look of awe, “What does it do?” He runs his fingers over the engravings and examines it closely.

Gerard recited it from memory just as Mikey had that day when he first saw the mirror, “It shows you nothing more or less than your hearts most deepest and desperate desires.” Frank’s eyes widen and he backs away from the mirror, looking at himself in it.

“And what do _you_ see when you look in it?”

Gerard takes his hand and kisses the side of his head, “I see you.”

“ _What_?!”Frank turns to face him.

“Well, I mean – it’s just…” Gerard gently pets Frank’s hand. “You’re the first and only person that I’ve ever _truly_ l-loved.”

“Loved?” Frank’s voice is a squeak, “You _love_ me?”

Gerard shakes his head and closes his eyes, “I mean, never mind. I’m sorry, just forget I said anything.” Gerard’s eyes still aren’t open so he’s surprised when he feels Frank’s lips capture his own.

“No, Gerard,” he mumbles against his lips. Then he pulls away, “ _I’m_ sorry. I didn’t mean it like that, it’s just… I’m not used to this. I’m not used to someone caring.”

“But the entire school loves you!” Gerard exclaims. Then his brows furrow, “Well, except for the Slytherin’s and who the fuck cares about them?”

Frank laughs “Okay, but I’ve never gotten used to it. I’ve never understood why people seem to take such an interest in me. I’m really not that special.”

Gerard hugs him tightly, “Oh, Frankie. Don’t say that. If I could just _show_ you, if you could be inside my head, maybe you’d understand.”

“I… might be able to swing that,” he mumbles into Gerard’s shirt.

“Huh?” Gerard pulls back.

“Those lessons that I’ve been having with Snape,” Frank explains. “I started them in my third year. It’s for a practice that the school doesn’t teach. Legilimency.”

“So you can read my mind if you want?” Gerard is skeptical.

“Only if you let me.” Frank tilts his head to the side and takes in every feature on Gerard’s fucking perfect face. “I’d never invade someone’s privacy like that. It’s such a horrible thing to do.” Gerard desperately want to just scream ‘I FUCKING LOVE YOU SO GODDAMNED MUCH!’ but he knows he shouldn’t.

So he just says, “You gonna read my mind or what?”

“Okay, sit down.” They sit down across from each other. “Relax. Your initial reflex is to panic and try to kick me out of your mind.”

Gerard scoffs, “I highly doubt that.”

Frank is in the midst of taking out his wand when he freezes and looks at Gerard, “Gerard, I’m not trying to be a know-it-all. I’m stating a fact. You won’t want someone else in your mind.”

Gerard shrugs, “I’m telling you right now, Frank. If anything, I’d be welcoming you into my head.”

Frank’s brows furrow, “Are you trying to fight me on this?”

Gerard scoffs, “Yeah!”

“Okay, if you’re right…” Frank thinks of something Gerard would want. Something he normally couldn’t have. Oh he’s got just the thing. “I’ll let you touch me. Anywhere. Everywhere. With any part of your anatomy that you desire.”

“Oh fuck Frankie…” Gerard’s expression is pained. “Well what if you’re right?”

Frank smiles deviously, “You have to tell Hermione she looks pretty.”

Gerard grimaces, “Frank—”

But Frank will have none of his bullshit, “My friends are your friends now. You have to treat them that way.”

For a long time, Gerard doesn’t say anything but stares at Frank and bites his bottom lip which just fascinates Frank beyond anything else to ever exist. Eventually he takes a deep breath and says, “I don’t know how.”

“What?”

He sighs, “I don’t know what having a friend is like.” Frank reaches out and strokes the side of his face, leaning in to kiss Gerard. The kiss is slow and deep and makes Frank’s fingers and toes tingle with happiness. When he pulls back he says, “You deserve so much more than I can give you,” he kisses Gerard again. “Anybody who wouldn’t want to be your friend is a fucking idiot.” Frank looks at Gerard as if he were seeing a glimpse of the future. “You are _amazing_ , Gee.”

“Oh Frank…” Gerard smiles warily. “Oh Frankie. You don’t know what you do to me.” Whenever Gerard says that or anything close to that, Frank just feels his heart soar; he is so gone for this kid that it’s not even funny.

“If it’s anything close to what you do to me, then I think I know.” Frank takes Gerard’s hand and takes out his wand. He tries to get into the right mindset and takes a few deep breaths, reminding himself that being deeply attached to the person you’re exploring causes an even deeper and intense effect than normal. He points his wand towards Gerard: _Legillimens_.

And just as Gerard had predicted, Frank felt like he was being _pulled_ into Gerard’s mind. Frank feels everything Gerard has ever tried to tell him and it’s so overwhelming that he feels _nothing_ and _everything_ at the same time. Frank feels like can fucking smell colours and see sounds. He feels like a fucking superhero.

Before him flashes a string of memories. All the worst moments of Gerard’s life have one thing in common—his parents—and all the best moments of Gerard’s life have one thing in common—Frank Iero. The saddest and happiest moments are a mix between the two and Frank feels horrible that Gerard’s possibly saddest moment in his entire life, was when Frank had said that they weren’t even friends. The happiest moment was when Frank had kissed him for the very first time.

Whatever it is that Gerard feels toward Frank is a million times stronger than he had anticipated. Gerard actually sees Frank as his angel sent directly from Heaven to save him from this Hell-on-Earth. Frank is, quite literally, the only reason that Gerard is even alive and Gerard loves him so goddamned much that when Frank finally withdraws from his head, there are tears streaming down Frank’s face.

“Don’t you see, Frankie?” Gerard smiles, wiping Frank’s tears away. “I love you more than I can say, and if you feel even half of that towards me, it’ll be a billion times more than I deserve.”

Frank sniffs lightly, “Don’t talk like that. If you want to make me happy—”

Gerard squeezes his hand and then kisses it, “More than anything.”

“—then you’ll stop talking like that.” Frank runs his free hand through his hair and tries to blink away all of his tears. “Do you love yourself, Gerard? I mean, are you happy with who you are?”

Gerard considers this for a moment, “I don’t think other people should love me because there are others that deserve it more than me, but that only leaves me. So I guess I do love myself.” He shrugs, “I’m not proud of some of the things I’ve done, but if I hadn’t done those things, I wouldn’t be who I am right now. I wouldn’t be able to love you the way you deserve.”

Frank lets out a breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding and smiles in relief, “Good. Good.” Then his face grows serious as he eyes Gerard skeptically. “But I’m not kidding, you better stop talking like that.”

Gerard kisses him, “Anything for you.”


	20. Let’s Play Pretend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Damn it’s like that guy fucking knows everything.

“How will you find yourself when your hand to hold is letting go?”  _ _-Mayday Parade; Stay__

* * *

Later that day, Dumbledore decides to call Frank and Gerard into his office. At first they’re freaking the fuck out because, like, what if Dumbledore knew what they’d done?! Not only would they be mortified, but that would get them in _so much_ trouble. However, when they arrive, it ends up being a lot more horrible than either of them had ever anticipated.

“I have some disappointing news for the two of you.”

Frank is confused, “Sir?”

And then he drops the bombshell… “I can no longer find viable reason to allow the two of you to continue living in the Room of Reformation.”

Frank frowns, “Oh… oh.”

Gerard isn’t too happy either, “Well that sucks.”

Dumbledore nods and smiles at them, “Very well said, Mr. Way. The good news is that the end of the term is next week.” Dumbledore stands up and walks around his desk, “In the meantime, you will return to your common rooms. I have already moved all of your belongings back to your dorms.” Frank and Gerard stand up to leave but the headmaster is not finished. “Mr. Way.”

“Yes sir?”

“If your housemates become any trouble, do not be afraid to stand up for yourself.” Damn it’s like that guy fucking knows _everything_. That was actually the main reason he was concerned with having to go back to his common room. Slytherin’s tend to find good reason to torture and corrupt, and just because Gerard is one of their own, doesn’t mean they’ll go easy on him.

Gerard smiles and nods, “I will, sir. I promise.”

Again, they’re about to leave and Dumbledore isn’t ready to see them leave, “Frank, a moment if you will.”

“Certainly, sir.” He turns to Gerard with a sad smile. “Hey Gee I’ll see you later.”

Gerard nods, “Okay.”

Once he’s gone, Dumbledore begins, “I do not know if you recall our conversation regarding the welfare of Mr. Way.” Oh Frank remembered alright. “But I told you that if the time came you needed to make the right decision.”

“I remember.”

“I would just like to inform you that by my reasoning,” he walks forward and rests his hand on Frank’s shoulder, looking at him over the top of his half-moon spectacles. “The time to decide has yet to come.”

And for some reason, it gives Frank the biggest sense of relief, “Thank you sir.”

“Anytime.” He turns away, “Now go see your housemates. I suspect there is much they wish to hear from you.” Frank nods even though he knows that Dumbledore can’t see him, and then leaves. He heads up to the Gryffindor common room and when he gets inside he’s attacked by Harry, Hermione, and Bob.

“Iero!” Bob exclaims. “It’s great to see you!”

Hermione pats Frank on the back, “I feel like we haven’t seen you in such a long time.” She gives him a one-armed hug, “I’m glad you’re back.”

“You _are_ back, aren’t you?” Harry asks with a skeptical look, “Like for good?”

But before Frank can respond, Bob interjects, “What was it like living with Way?”

Harry seems just as curious, “Was it dreadful?”

Frank shrugs and moves to sit down in one of the chairs, “At first it was pure torture having to see him every day. I almost cried, you don’t even know. But then I kinda, y’know. Dealt with it.” And not one part of that was a lie.

“That’s good!” Harry exclaims, sitting on the floor beside him. “Sometimes he can be a real pain in the ass.”

Something stirs inside of Frank, and suddenly he’s grinning like an idiot. “Yes,” he giggles. “Gerard can be a _real_ pain in the ass sometimes, but I didn’t really mind.”

Hermione stutters but nobody seems to notice, “H-have you guys worked it all out?” Oh that’s a rather good question. “There are still some questions that remain unanswered, but overall I think we’re good.” He smiles fondly, “In fact, Gerard and I are golden because, I shit you not, that kid is not all he says he is. He doesn’t hate muggle borns at all.” Because if he did, Frank would be so fucked.

“That doesn’t make any sense!” Harry exclaims, “What he called you—”

“Yeah, I know but listen: Gerard is _in love_ with a muggle born.” Frank felt it was kinda weird to say all of these things about himself as if he were a different person. “He told me so himself.”

Bob isn’t convinced, “How do you know he wasn’t just lying?”

“Robert, do you honestly think that someone who despises muggle borns would even _joke_ about being in love with one?” Only Hermione… only Hermione would get away with calling Bob ‘Robert’. Okay, Frank might be able to but they’re best friends.

“I suppose not.” Bob shrugs. They’re all sitting and talking about random stuff when Ron and Ray walk in.

“Frank!” Ray practically yells. Frank jumps up to hug him and then hugs Ron. Ray is just as curious as everyone else, “Is this just a visit? Or are you back?”

Hermione answers, “He’s back!”

Frank’s face is pained, “I’m back.”

Ron frowns, “You don’t sound too happy about that.”

Frank shrugs and sits back down, followed by Ron and Ray. “I’m not, but… that’s a story for a different day.” A _much_ different day. Frank thought that maybe this wasn’t the best day to, y’know, tell his friends he’s in love with an ex-muggle born hater.

“What,” Ron scoffs, “have you become friends with Way or something?”

“Yes Ron,” Frank grits through his teeth. “I guess you could say that _Gerard_ and I have become friends.”

But Ron doesn’t really take the hint, “Since when do you use his first name?”

“Since they’re friends, idiot.” Bob says, rolling his eyes.

“Okay boys,” Hermione interjects. “Why don’t we just celebrate the fact that Frank is back?”

“Definitely.” Ray smiles, “And just in time for the end of the year!”

Frank smirks, “Perfect timing, I know.”

Harry raises his hand, “So what do you want to do now, Frank?”

Then Ray, “We could go to the pitch?”

And then Hermione, “Or just to Hagrid’s?”

Frank feels his stomach growl, “Maybe later. Right now, I just want some motherfucking food! Can we go to the Great Hall?”

Bob smirks and stands up, catching Frank when the small boy launches himself at his back, “Whatever you want, Iero.” And they all head down. They’re sitting in the Great Hall when something comes to Frank’s mind and he says, “Ron, if it makes you feel any better, I still can’t stand the guy.” Biggest fucking lie that Frank’s ever told.

Ron smiles, “Actually, that does. Thanks Frank.”

“No prob!” But then he sees Gerard walk into the Great Hall, and the first thing Frank thinks is _‘Fuck!_ ’. Then Gerard sees him and walks towards them, expression blank. Frank is having a mini panic attack, but he’s confused by Gerard’s expression. And instead of Gerard being all ‘OMG FRANK I LOVE YOU!’ He calmly says, “Frank.”

Frank can see the look in his eye and praises whatever higher being there is that Gerard thought the same thing he did. Frank is just as cool, “Gerard.”

Gerard pauses a second, “I see you’re… back in the swing of things.”

He shrugs, “I guess you could say that.”

“Well I would just like to say that I’m glad we got the opportunity to work out our differences.” He holds out his hand for Frank to shake and Frank nods, grasping his hand tightly and shaking once.

“I couldn’t agree more.” But when Gerard pulls his hand away, he’s left a note in Frank’s hand. They nod curtly at each other and then Gerard walks away and Frank takes his motherfucking time watching that sweet ass make its way down the aisle.

Ron smirks, “That is definitely not ‘friends’.”

Frank turns back to look at them, “We’re civil towards each other.”

Harry is happy, “Well that’s nice!”

Hermione clears her throat and stands up, “Hey I think I’m going to go back to the common room.”

Bob smiles at her, “See ya later!”

Ray barely looks up from his Potions book, “See you.”

Ron shrugs, “Bye.”

Harry waves, “I’ll see you later, Hermione.”

But Frank? “Oh I’ll go with you.” Frank would later come to find that this was the best decision he’d ever made in his entire life. Well, the second best, that is. Frank stands up and rolls his shoulders a few times, “I kinda wanna just get settled in my bed again, y’know?” They all bid each other farewell and then Frank and Hermione are making their way out of the Great Hall.

Once they’re in the main corridors, and nobody is around, Hermione smiles and says, “I’m actually glad that you decided to come back up with me.”

Frank frowns at her, “Oh really? Why?”

Then she looks guilty. “I had kinda planned it that way?”

“Huh?”

“Okay, look… There’s something I want to talk to you about but I don’t want you to get all weird and defensive.”

Now Frank is just downright confused, “I won’t. Hermione what is this all about?”

“Two days ago I was talking with Pete and Mikey, and they told me something.” Frank has never really been good at putting two and two together—makes sense considering how long it took for him to finally fucking figure out what was up with Gerard. Hermione pauses a second and then continues, “And I don’t think they should have. They said they told me because when everyone else found out, they would have a really hard time adjusting. They said I was logical and would see where this was all coming from. I don’t see where it’s all coming from, but they were right when they said I was logical. So I’ve accepted it and I’m really glad and strangely enough, I don’t feel angry at all.”

Frank has gone from happy, to intrigued, to suspicious, to confused, to a bunch of emotions in between. Now he’s angry, “Hermione, _what_ is this _about_?!”

She stops walking and so does Frank. She bites her lip with a pained expression and looks him right in the eye. “You’re in love with Gerard Way.”

Oh God fucking damnit! Frank just sputters before throwing his hands in the air and saying, “Fucking Pete!” He sighs and runs his hands through his hair.

“No please don’t get angry at them.” Hermione looks like she wants to comfort Frank but knows that going near him at a time like this is just stupid.

Frank’s brows furrow and he looks at her, “But why? Why you?”

Her answer seems rehearsed: “Because I’m muggle born and if I had found out that you were in love with someone who had called you a – a mudblood and we were around everyone else, I probably would have been fuming. I would have been so angry that I wouldn’t be thinking rationally. Finding out alone let me just mull it over. I’ve come to accept it, and I’m so happy for you. Both of you.”

Frank pinches the bridge of his nose, “Hermione, I’m happy that you’re happy for us but… I mean, I’m not angry that you know. I just – y’know it was kinda _my_ news to share.” He honestly doesn’t give two fucks if she knew. He just wanted to be the one who told her. And that was taken away from him.

“I understand.” She looks sympathetic, “That’s why I told you. If you had found out that I knew and didn’t tell you? You would have been angrier, trust me.” She has an extremely valid point.

Frank shrugs and stuffs his hands in his pockets, continuing on with walking up the stairs, “I guess. How do you think Ron’s going to take it?”

She grimaces, “Horribly.”

“What about everyone else?”

Hermione considers this for a moment, “Well obviously Pete and Mikey already know, so I think Patrick must already know too. Ron will have a cow, Harry will be slightly confused, Ray will be happy but continuously ask you if you’re making the right decision, and Bob?” She pauses, “Well, I think that out of all of them, Bob will be the best. He’ll feel the way I do.”

Frank’s brows furrow, “Why Bob?”

She laughs a little, “Haven’t you heard the way he talks about you? You’re, like, his best friend and his little brother. The only thing he’ll want to say is ‘Whatever you want, Iero’.”


	21. Let There Be Sadness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> SORRY IT'S BEEN SO LONG: HERE HAVE THREE CHAPTERS!

“I can live without you but without you I’ll be miserable at best.”  _ _-Mayday Parade; Miserable at Best__

* * *

When Frank gets back to the common room, he goes up to his dorm and lies down on his bed. He fishes in his pocket for something and emerges with a folded piece of paper. It’s the note Gerard gave him. He carefully unfolds it and starts to read.

 

‘ _My dearest Frankie…_

_I had assumed that the last thing you wanted to do was just come out and tell everyone about us. That is, if there_ is _an ‘us’. Neither of us were really clear on that point. Anyway, since you obviously have more friends than I do, I decided that I wouldn’t say anything until you did. It kills me not to see you and your beautiful face whenever I want, but if for some reason you wish to visit me, the password to the Slytherin common room is ‘hiyasacheeth’._

_Oh my dear Frankie… you know not what you do to me. I truly and deeply, with every fiber of my being, love you beyond any person or material object in the entire universe. I do not know how we will turn out, but if I had my way, I would spend the rest of my days with you._

_I don’t expect that you will forgive my past actions (in fact, I will not let you forgive me for what I have done) but I want to send a quick apology. I have never met a more talented or kind wizard in all my years, and I do not suspect I ever will._

_I cannot say it enough for you to comprehend: I love you, my dear. I truly do._

_Forever yours_

_\- Gerard_.’

 

The things that Frank feels at the end of that letter are nearly impossible to describe. There is such an endless and helpless amount of love that the only thing Frank desires to do—the _only thing_ —is sit next to Gerard and hold his hand. Physical love is something Frank would die without, but the connection of emotional love is something entirely different and it is what Frank is deprived and suffering of at the moment. His entire body aches with longing and he would give anything in the world to just sit next to the love of his life, and hold his motherfucking hand.


	22. Surprise!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bob smiles at him, “You know you can tell us anything, right?”
> 
> Frank nods but says, “Maybe not this.”

“And I’ll pretend that I don’t feel a thing. That doesn’t work for me.” - _ _Mayday Parade; Oh Well, Oh Well__

* * *

For the rest of the day, and the days that follow, Frank doesn’t see Gerard and he is fucking _dying_. He feels like his insides are slowly being melted into goo and oozing out through every orifice and pore on his body. He never does end up going to the Slytherin common room no matter how much he wants to, because he knows the amount of trouble they’d get in if another student saw them. He sleeps with Gerard’s note under his pillows and carries it around all day with him; he doesn’t have to read it to feel all fluttery inside.

Finally, it’s the third last day of school and Frank is at breakfast in the Great Hall, sitting at the end of the table right next to Hermione. He’s so agitated that he feels like his skin is going to crawl right off of him. Under the table, his knee is shaking so fast that Hermione finally has to put her hand on his thigh to make him stop. He looks at her with a pained expression. He leans over and whispers, “I have to tell them.”

She pulls back and gives him a bewildered look, “Why?!”

He honestly looks like he’s about to cry and his voice breaks when he tells her, “I can’t take it anymore, Hermione. I’m dying here and all I fucking want to do is go over to the goddamned Slytherin table and just _kiss_ him.” He shakes his head in irritation, “Hell, I’d sell my next five meals to be able to hold his hand for three fucking seconds.”

Hermione’s shocked expression melts into a fond smile, “Oh Frank,” she pats his shoulder. “I think you’re right. I don’t know how you made it this long. I’ve never seen that kind of commitment in my entire life. I think I would have died.”

“I’m almost there, Hermione.” Frank sighs and shakes his head, “I’m almost there.” So for the next twenty minutes, Frank sits in perfect and torturous silence, only occasionally laughing and smiling when people expected him to. After eating, the Gryffindors had Herbology and Muggle Studies—which Frank barely made it through. Afterwards is when Frank, Ray, Bob, Harry, Hermione, and Ron all sat outside under a tree and just enjoyed the weather.

He’s sitting next to Hermione and gives her a worried look. She nods encouragingly and he clears his throat, “Hey guys, there’s something I wanna talk to you about.” Nobody says anything so he continues. “It’s really hard to say so just… bear with me?”

Bob smiles at him, “You know you can tell us anything, right?”

Frank nods but says, “Maybe not this.”

Harry scoffs, “How about you let _us_ decide that, okay?”

Frank smiles at him, “Okay.” Then he takes a deep breath, “So you guys know that I had to spend a few months in the Room of Reformation with Gerard Way.”

And naturally, Ron has to butt in, “Don’t know how you survived it.”

Hermione scolds him, “Honestly, Ronald. After hearing what Frank has to say you’ll understand that this is _really_ not the time.”

Frank smiles at her gratefully, “Thanks Hermione.” Then he turns back to the group, “I had always felt uneasy around him, and I didn’t really know why. After spending all that time with him, he actually became my friend, and you guys know how much I care about my friends. So I can’t really tell you guys why, but something happened about two months ago that really just… got to me.” He stops and takes a shuddering breath.

Harry give him a supportive look, “It’s okay, Frank. Really it is.”

Frank smiles warily at him, “Well, on that day it all just kinda clicked into place for me and I suddenly understood a lot of things that I was missing.” Then he paused, “You guys know that Bert punched Gerard, right?”

Bob shrugs, “Yeah, we all heard about it, but we don’t know why.”

Frank bites his bottom lip, “Well a long time ago Gerard told me that he was in love which isn’t too uncommon but the problem was the blood status of the person he wanted to be with. They’re muggle born.” They give him shocked looks, “He asked me for help and I told him that if he wanted it to work out, he’d have to prove his feelings. He didn’t know how so I said that telling his friends would definitely be enough considering how much Bert and Gabe hate muggle borns. Just recently he took that advice and Gabe reacted pretty well, but you know what happened with Bert. But it just so turned out that the person Gerard was in love with, loved him back.”

They were all silent before Ray blinks at him and asks, “What’s any of this got to do with you?”

There’s another silence before Harry finally speaks up, “Don’t you see?” He gives them expectant looks and they return it with blank faces. Harry puts his head in his hands before looking up and saying, “ _Frank_ is the muggle born!”

Ron chokes on what is, technically, nothing. “ _What_?!” He exclaims.

Bob shrugs, “I kinda connected the dots about ten minutes ago.”

Harry scratches the back of his head, “I just don’t get how it works, though.”

Ray squeals like a little girl, “Oh! I’m so happy for you!” Then he gives Frank a solemn look, “But are you sure this is the right thing to be doing?”

Frank smiles and Hermione nudges his shoulder, “I told you Frank.”

And then Ron kinda has a cow, “How can all of you be okay with this?!” He stands up and points at Hermione, “Hermione! What?”

Hermione rolls her eyes, “I knew a few days ago, Ron.” He gapes at her but she ignores him, “I’m okay with it because Frank is okay with it. Because Frank accepts Gerard and I figure that if we’re really his friends, we should do the same.”

He shakes his head and turns away, “You’re all insane!”

If anything Frank’s face is disappointed when Harry turns to say, “Not everyone is happy for you, but in the end, we’ll all accept it.”


	23. Mi Amigos Son Tsu Amigos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> But you can’t leave me. Not yet.

“I don’t know where you’re going but do you got room for one more troubled soul?” – _Fall Out Boy; Alone Together_

* * *

At some point between breakfast and dinner on the second last day of school, Frank had sent an owl to Gerard. Part of Frank actually misses the faint ache below the waist and he suffered a few cases of a red face and a tent in the pants at the most inconvenient times. So it is at dinner on the second last day of school that Frank is sitting with Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ray, Bob, Lyndzey, Ron, Pete and Patrick (who keep blushing when they look at each other), and Mikey and they’re all just laughing and having a generally good time when they hear a voice clear behind them.

Everyone but Bob and Frank seem to be dumbfounded to see Gerard standing there. Bob is pleasantly surprised and Frank is fucking ecstatic. Frank smiles up at him and quietly says, “Hi.”

Gerard blushes and smiles at him, “Hi.”

Everyone is really awkward for a second before Hermione clears her throat and says, “G-Gerard, would you l-like to join us?”

Ron scoffs, “Hermione!”

She turns and glares at him, “Not now, Ronald!”

Gerard frowns and gestures over his shoulder, “I can just go—”

Ron’s eyes narrow, “Maybe you should.” And Ron is lucky there’s a table separating him from Frank because otherwise he’d be lying on the ground, bleeding profusely from his facial region.

Frank all but shrieks, “Shut the fuck up, Ron!” Then everyone in the Great Hall seems incredibly interested in what is happening at the end of the Gryffindor table and they’re _especially_ interested as to why Frank Iero—most beloved kid in Hogwarts—is upset and who they need to punch to make him happy again.

Gerard fidgets and looks around nervously, “Really, I don’t want to be any trouble.” If Frank weren’t in the mood to slaughter someone, he probably would be wrapped around Gerard, trying to comfort him due to the fact that he looks like he’s literally about to cry. But that’s the thing; Frank is angry, so he doesn’t give two shits.

Frank glares at him, “You can just shut the fuck up too.”

Gerard doesn’t seem angry at Frank. Just incredibly uncomfortable, “O-okay.” Sadly enough, nobody has seemed to lose interest in the situation and it’s just making everything worse. They’re all wondering why Gerard Way, known muggle born hater, is talking to Frank Iero. There’s no one who doesn’t find that situation strange aside from the kids at the end of the table.

“It’s no big deal, honestly.” Harry shrugs and smiles at Gerard, “I can just scoot over.” So he does and then Frank is beaming and everyone—almost like a curse being broken—goes about their business as if nothing had happened. The second that Gerard is seated, Frank reaches under the table and takes his hand, almost desperately. Gerard gives him a shocked look but Frank’s face conveys nothing.

It’s awkwardly quiet between everyone and Bob is the first one to break the silence. “You do know that if you ever hurt Frank in any way I will destroy you, right?” Frank frowns at Bob and feels like he should say something but then remembers that he needs to stop advocating for Gerard; if his friends didn’t accept this yet then they weren’t his friend anymore. Sorry Ron Weasley.

Gerard stares for a moment before blinking and slowly responding, “If I ever hurt Frank in any way I will destroy _myself_.” Under the table, Frank squeezes his hand. He squeezes back and they both smile at each other. Slowly, one by one, they’re all starting to see it; Frank’s irritation and bitterness from the last few days is gone. There’s no tension in his shoulders or anger in his eyes. No frown or grimace on his lips, no stony expression, and no tendency to glare at people for the littlest things. They’re all starting to see that not even the things that used to make Frank happy are this important. They’ve never seen this version of Frank and they all realize that Gerard, not Frank’s closest friends or favourite activities, evokes a happiness in Frank that they can’t even hope to mimic.

Then Ray pipes up, “Obviously _most_ of us are taking this quite well. In fact, we’re extremely happy for you! But what happens over the summer?” Gerard’s face grows pained and he looks into his lap; obviously he’d been thinking about that already, but it’s not Gerard who answers.

“Gerard loves Frank enough to tell our parents.” Mikey’s voice is quiet and sad, “They’ll disown him. We’ll have nowhere to live.”

Gerard’s head snaps up, “We?”

Mikey rolls his eyes, “Well, I’m your brother you fucktard. If you leave then I leave, got it?”

Gerard is completely shocked, “Yeah I – I got it.” Then Frank looks at Gerard and this weird mental conversation ensues.

Frank’s brows furrow, ‘ _Do you wanna talk about it?_ ’

Gerard shrugs, ‘ _Kinda?_ ’

‘ _Mikey?_ ’

‘ _Probably_.’ They both look at Mikey and he seems to understand. Frank stands up, still gripping Gerard’s hand. Gerard follows suit and so does Mikey. Casually, Frank says, “We have to go. I guess I’ll see you guys later.” Nobody really seems to question Frank’s decision and they all bid their farewells before Frank, Mikey, and Gerard leave the Great Hall and head to the library. They make their way to the corner and sit, tucked away from the world.

The first person to talk is Gerard, and it’s not what Mikey wants to hear. “Mikey, you can’t come with me.”

Mikey glares, “I thought you said you got it.”

He shakes his head, “I didn’t want to get into a fight with you right in front of everyone else.”

Mikey rolls his eyes, “Well that’s considerate, but I still don’t think you understand how stubborn I am.”

Now it’s Gerard’s turn to roll his eyes, “Oh, trust me. I know _exactly_ how stubborn you—” but he’s cut off by a bold request. Frank, who had been sitting there silently, only barely paying attention to the conversation, finally had something to say.

“Live with me.”

They both blink at him and say, “What?”

Frank bites his lip—which Gerard finds so adorable—and says. “Come live with me. Both of you.” Okay, now this really puts Gerard in a tight situation.

“Frankie… I would love that more than anything but won’t we be a burden?”

And now it’s Franks turn to roll his eyes, “As far as muggles go, my parents are quite well off. Our house is big enough.”

“Frank you haven’t even talked to your parents yet!”

He shrugs, “My mother always was the type of person to beg me to bring my friends over. She’s never really talked to any wizards aside from me. It’ll be a nice surprise.” And strangely enough, Frank isn’t lying and Gerard knows that. They lived together for, like, three months; do you really think they didn’t talk about family at some point?

But Gerard hasn’t learned, “I-I don’t know.”

“Okay well it’s not an option anymore. You’re living with me, okay? Okay.”

“But—”

“Do you want me to be happy, Gerard?” Frank’s gaze is piercing and Gerard almost can’t hold his stare. Eventually it becomes too much and he looks away when he says, “More than – more than anything in the world.”

Frank smiles at him lovingly, “Then you’ll wise up and realize you will never win in a fight like this. My parents have literally talked about legally changing my middle name to ‘Stubborn’.”

Mikey scoffs, “Why is it that I can definitely see that conversation taking place?”

Frank gives him a shit-eating grin and says, “Because I’m always right.” After a second he adds, “Except for when I’m wrong. Then I’m wrong.” It is at this point in the conversation that Mikeyway makes his exit, stating that he has to do some studying for a Potions final.

When Gerard and Frank are alone, Gerard sighs and says, “Okay. Fine. Okay.”

Frank leans back in his chair, “Wow, don’t sound too excited about it.”

Gerard’s face is pained, “Oh come on, I am excited I just – I’m also worried. I want this to work.”

Frank smiles at him tiredly, “Then let it work. Stop trying to fix something that isn’t broken.” Gerard gets out of his chair and kneels in front of Frank, taking his hand and kissing it gently. He pets the top of Frank’s hand and says, “Oh my dearest love. You do not know what you do to me.”

Frank smirks and leans forward, “Oh Gee,” he kisses Gerard and mumbles against his lips, “There are plenty of things I want to do to you, but we’ll save that for another day.”

Gerard groans in frustration, “Seriously, Frank. You’re going to be the death of me.” Frank kisses him again, a huge smile on his lips.

“What a good way to go. But you can’t leave me. Not yet. Not ever.”

Gerard strokes the side of Frank’s face, “I wouldn’t dream of it.”


	24. Haven't Slept a Wink

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frank looks at him warily, “Please say you didn’t get into trouble for that!”

“I’m not okay. Trust me: I’m not okay.”  _ _-My Chemical Romance; I’m Not Okay (I Promise)__

* * *

That night at dinner, everyone seems to be a bit more relaxed around one another. They’re all being civil, and Ron hasn’t said anything rude—even though he’s sitting there with a look on his face that even the basilisk would be afraid of. Under the table, Frank and Gerard are holding hands, and they’re smiling like two motherfucking idiots. At one point, Pete asks, “So Gerard… how bad did it hurt? Y’know when Bert punched you in the face?”

Gerard snorts, “I definitely got it easy compared to what happened to him.”

Frank frowns, “What happened to Bert.”

Pete shrugs, “I may or may not have had something to do with him falling down the stairs and breaking his arm.” Everyone laughs, but mostly in disbelief. They honestly can’t believe that Pete did that. Well, they _can_ but they’re still surprised; especially poor little Patrick who is starting to wonder what he got himself into.

Frank looks at him warily, “Please say you didn’t get into trouble for that!”

He shrugs again, “I just had to apologize.”

Bob smirks, “Yeah, and you did… by telling him what a piece of shit he is.”

Gerard smiles fondly at Pete, “You’re a good guy, Pete.”

Pete snorts, “Well, we’re friends so…”

“Really?” Gerard is genuinely shocked.

“Fuck yeah, dude!” Pete gives him a shit-eating grin. “I don’t do that kind of shit for just anyone!” Except he totally does. Pete really is a nice guy. A little disturbed, but still nice.

“You really didn’t have to do that.”

“Like I said, we’re friends, bro.” It is at that point that they all decide that they’re way too tired to continue to even attempt to talk to one another, so they say their goodbyes and part ways. Gerard kisses Frank softly, and behind them, they hear Bob and Ray making gagging sounds.

Frank flips them the bird before grabbing the back of Gerard’s head and kissing him deeply and slowly. Gerard starts to bring their hips together before remembering that they’re in the middle of the fucking hallway. He pulls back and kisses Frank on the forehead before whispering, “Goodnight, my love.” And the entire way back to the common room, Frank is smiling like an idiot.

However, that night, he doesn’t sleep.

When he gets up in the morning, there are huge bags under his eyes and he feels incredibly sick. He doesn’t see Gerard at breakfast and Ray and grimaces at him, “Bro, you look horrible.”

Frank scowls at the table, “You don’t look too dandy yourself.” He’s sitting there with his head down on the table and his food completely untouched.

Ray frowns, “Hey, I’m not trying to be mean. You were making some sounds in your sleep last night. Were you having a nightmare or something?”

Frank scratches the back of his head, “I don’t remember.” He sits up and looks at Ray, “I guess I’m just not used to sleeping in the Gryffindor common room.”

Ray looks sympathetic, “Oh. I understand.”

“Yeah…” he puts his head back down on the table.

“Hey, have you talked to your parents yet?”

After a second he answers, “About?”

“You know what I mean, Frank.”

He sighs, “I told my parents that I have a friend who’s coming over during break. They got excited and I didn’t feel like writing ‘Hey, I’m in love with this kid named Gerard and his dad hates muggle borns and so Gerard and his brother Mikey have to come stay with us for the rest of eternity because they’ll have nowhere else to go if they don’t!’ It just doesn’t seem like a good thing to say over a letter.”

“Now that you explain it like that, I’m starting to see where you’re coming from.” Frank makes a sound of agreement and then they both get up and leave the Great Hall. It’s the second last day of school which means that he has to do a few finals every day. Today he has Transfiguration and Herbology, and he expects he’ll do okay, but he’s absolutely dreading Herbology since he fucking hates that class. The day seems to fly by and the only chance he gets to see Gerard is at dinner because Gerard had something to do during breakfast and lunch.

That night, Frank doesn’t sleep.


	25. Casual Conversations and Too Much PDA

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mikey snorts, “No, if mom didn’t have dad she’d love Frank. She wasn’t always like this, remember?”

“The way is long, but you can make it easy on me.” – _ _Chvrches; The Mother We Share__

* * *

On the very last day of school, Gerard doesn’t see Frank once and he just feels like he’s dying. He can’t sleep, he can’t eat, and he can’t focus on _anything_ ; he’s so fucking worried about what’s going to happen when school lets out. What will happen with his parents, or Frank’s parents, or even Mikey? He doesn’t know, and that’s what the hardest part is. Not knowing—only guessing.

After his very last exam, Gerard says goodbye to his dormitory, and the friends he won’t see, before he heads down to the carriages that will take him to the train. He’s with Mikey who is getting rather annoyed with the way Gerard is so agitated and shaky. At one point he reaches over and snaps his fingers in front of Gerard’s face, “Dude, calm down.”

He makes a frustrated sound, “I can’t!” Not even a second later, a dark-haired figure flies into their compartment and launches itself at Gerard. Frank’s arms wrap around Gerard’s neck and he presses his lips to Gerard’s. Gerard makes a surprised yet happy noise before kissing Frank back. From behind them, Bob snorts, “Can you not?” Frank flips him off and after a second, he pulls back before kissing Gerard’s jaw, and then his neck. The looks on Bob, Ray, and Mikey’s faces is pure terror. Gerard gives them an apologetic look before grabbing Frank’s shoulders and pushing him back. “Frank,” he says carefully. “Frankie? We’re on a train… with other people in the vicinity.”

“Well, they can go fuck themselves,” Frank mutters, giving Gerard his puppy-dog eyes and sticking his bottom lip out; the fact of the matter is that Gerard can never say no to Frank and this is no exception. Except it kinda is.

Gerard smiles slightly, “I’m sorry.” Frank scrunches up his nose but reluctantly slides off his lap. He lays down on the seat, settling his head in Gerard’s lap and his feet across Ray’s thighs. Frank sighs happily as Gerard’s fingers sift through his hair. He looks up at Gerard before asking, “Are you going home?”

Gerard grimaces, “Yeah. Yeah, I am.”

Mikey and Frank simultaneously ask, “Why?”

Frank is looking at him with hurt and Mikey is looking at him with horror. Gerard sighs and rubs a hand over his face before addressing his brother, “Mikey, we have a billion things to do at home.”

Mikey snorts, “So?”

“Fuck that noise,” Frank mutters under his breath.

Gerard looks down at him with a sad expression and Frank feels kinda bad. Gerard is really only thinking of what’s best and Frank is being really selfish for making him feel guilty for doing the right thing. Gerard takes a deep breath before saying, “I want to go with you, Frank. I _really_ do. I just – my parents.”

Mikey gapes at him, “Gerard, really? Fuck mom and dad.”

“Mikey—”

Another voice speaks up, “Mikey, maybe he’s right.”

Mikey frowns, “Ray?”

Ray shifts uncomfortably when all the attention turns to him. “Think about it,” he starts, “if you don’t go home, your parents might worry. Maybe you guys should talk to them before leaving. I think they should know why they’re not going to see their children ever again, don’t you?” Fuck… it made so much goddamned sense when Ray said it.

Gerard looked relieved, “Exactly.”

Frank shoots his hand into the air to draw attention to himself, “Wait. So that means… you _are_ staying with me?”

Gerard beams, “Of course, Frankie. Of course.”

Frank considers this for a second before shrugging and saying, “Then I’m going with you.” And it is at that moment that everyone in the compartment, aside from Frank, had this short mental conversation in which every single one of them just thought ‘ _No._ ’ and shook their heads.

Gerard sputters, “What?!”

Ray grimaces, “Frank… no.”

Bob rolls his eyes, “That’s a bad idea, man.”

Gerard grabs Frank’s head and looks into his eyes earnestly. “Frank, my father will _kill_ you.” Somehow the completely truthful threat didn’t make Frank feel deterred from his ultimate motive. If Gerard was going to face pain, he wasn’t going to face it alone.

Mikey bites his lip, “He’s not making this up, Frank. He’ll do it.”

Frank rolls his eyes and sits up, “He’s not going to kill me.”

“Yes he will!” Gerard and Mikey exclaim at the same time.

Frank’s voice is soft, and his eyes are blank. Gerard gulps because he recognizes this behaviour; Frank is shutting down. When he says he doesn’t respond well to anger, he wasn’t lying. He really is terrible with people who cannot hold their temper, in which case he goes ape-shit. “No he won’t. Your parents love you.”

Gerard is miserable, “Frank, I’m sorry we yelled, but have you _met_ my father.”

“I do recall a particular incident, yes.” Frank’s voice is still soft and his eyes still seem to stare at something that is just beyond Gerard’s head. “However, if your father does not love you, which I’m sure he does, your mother definitely does.”

“What’s love got to do with it?” If this were any other situation, both Frank and Bob would be laughing. This isn’t a good time for laughs…

“Love has _everything_ to do with it.” Frank seems to finally be a bit more receptive since he smiles slightly and takes Gerard’s hand. “If your mom loves you, she’ll want to make you happy.”

“And?” Gerard is a bit slow.

Frank sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose, “Do _I_ make you happy?”

Gerard looks taken aback, “More than anythi – oh. Now I get it.” Frank pats the side of his face lazily and then leans forward to kiss his cheek.

“A little on the slow side, babe.” Frank tells him with an pitying expression. Gerard’s face is sour; he doesn’t like pity. Not from Frank. Not from _anyone_.

Then Bob has to go and fuck everything up by saying, “Yeah, but she also wants the best for Gerard. To her, you’re not that.”

Frank frowns at him, “I know women and their children. They put their kid’s happiness before their own.” And nobody could really argue with him on that one because they all knew it was true. A mother would do anything for her children even if it meant turning her back on her long-term morals. They’re all silent for a second before Gerard quietly says, “You know, aside from being muggle born, I think my mother would love you.”

Mikey snorts, “No, if mom didn’t have _dad_ she’d love Frank. She wasn’t always like this, remember?”

Gerard nods slowly, “Oh yeah. When Mikey and I were younger, our mom made it an important part of her life to remind us that blood status doesn’t matter.”

Frank is curious, “What happened?”

“Dad started to work for the Ministry in the Department of Mysteries.” The topic seemed sensitive and Frank wants to apologize. “It… did things to him. He’s a little prejudice.”

Ray scoffs, “A _little_?”

Gerard shrugs, “Okay he’s a fucking asshole but dad wasn’t always like that either.” This topic seemed even more sensitive, and Frank does apologize by way of squeezing his hand lightly and stroking the back of it with his thumb. “His childhood best friend was a muggle born. Granted, they were both in Slytherin, but that doesn’t matter! They still keep in touch sometimes. Somewhere deep down, they both have a soft spot for all human beings.”

Mikey smiles sadly, “They might act evil, but they’re not evil people. Really, they’re not.”

Everyone is a bit somber after that and it comes as a shock when Gerard turns to Frank and says, “I think you should come with us, Frank.” He nods when Frank gasps and stares at him with wide and unsure eyes, “I want you to meet my parents.”

Frank’s expression softens, “Well, you’re meeting mine so it only makes sense.” So that’s what they would do; go to the Way household before finding refuge at Frank’s. It sounds a lot easier than it is to do, and Gerard knows that once he gets home, things are _not_ going to go smoothly at all. In fact, he means for it not to. If he isn’t yelling, and his father doesn’t feel horrible, then he’s not doing Frank justice; Frank being the _one and only_ thing that seems to bring true happiness to either of the Way children. Hopefully their parents would see that, right? Yeah, well… Gerard can dream.


	26. All Hail the Queen, For She is Fair And Just

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Donna raises an eyebrow, “What’s the matter?”

“This is it; the apocalypse.” – _ _Imagine Dragons; Radioactive__

* * *

 

Once they arrive at Kings Cross Station, they all gather their luggage and have Gerard, who is 17, apparate them out of the station. When Frank’s vision clears he feels a little sick from the traveling, but he thanks the fucking Lord that he didn’t throw up or anything because that is definitely _not_ cute. Before he can really comprehend where he is, Gerard is grabbing his hand and dragging him up a long gravel pathway. Before him lures a rather large and cold-looking house. He feels sad just looking at it…

“Gerard, is  this seriously—”

“Where I live?” He asks, looking back at Frank with a pained expression. “Sadly, yes it is.” Once they enter through the huge oak doors, Frank lets go of Gerard’s hand and when Gerard looks at him weird, Frank nods to something down the hall. Sitting there, in the living room, is Donna Way inspecting some very important-looking documents. When Mikey clears his throat in an unsubtle manner, she looks up and smiles. However, then her eyes land on Frank and her smile falters and Frank kinda wants to just disapparate without caring about the magical laws. She stands up and walks towards them. Mikey is the first to address her.

“Hello…” he says monotonously.

“Hello Michael.” She replies with a kind smile, and suddenly Frank feels really confused; should he hate or like this woman? She seemed so nice but Frank knew there were fronts that people liked to put on.

“Mom,” Gerard says without meeting her eyes.

“Gerard,” her voice is less warm and more cautious. Not rude. Just cautious. Then her eyes flicker towards Frank and her mouth deflates to a straight line. “And… who is this?” _Well fuck you all,_ Frank thinks.

He gives his sweetest smile, “Frank Iero, Madame.” She nods apprehensively and Frank examines his surroundings. “You have quite the exquisite home.” He smiles at her, “Oh my… I can see where Mikey and Gerard acquired their charm and magnetism.” Donna Way blushes and smiles shyly—thoroughly impressed with Frank’s mannerisms.

“Well, aren’t you just the most charming young man I’ve ever met.” _I’m fucking awesome_ , he thinks with a smile. But she seems almost pained to be saying it, and Frank knows he’s so close! He’s so fucking close to getting Donna Way to accept him. If there’s one thing Frank knows, it’s snobby rich people—after all, he’s in love with Gerard isn’t he?—and these snobby rich people don’t always care if you look the part, as long as you can act it well, you’re as good as gold.

Frank extends his hand, and when she hesitantly takes it, he brings it to his mouth and places a light kiss on her knuckles. When he lets go, she’s smiling fondly, and her eyes hold this look like she’s calculating something important. She’s trying to decide whether Frank is a guest or enigma in their household and Frank is praying for a miracle of a first-impression.

She then asks them to follow her, and when she turns to lead them to the living room, Gerard gives Frank a strange look. Frank returns his expression with a smirk and a feigned sort of innocence, and he bites his bottom lip. Gerard’s eyes go wide and he blows the hair out of his face, shoulders slumping and utterly defeated. Frank laughs maniacally (but quietly) before grabbing Gerard’s ass, winking at him and gracefully flouncing away to join Mikey and Donna, leaving Gerard to gape after him.

They all sit down, Donna at a large, plush chair, Mikey at another, and Frank and Gerard on the couch across from them; they’re sitting close together, and Frank is gripping Gerard’s hand tightly. Donna eyes their hands and asks them, “Would any of you like something to drink? Something to eat?”

Gerard shrugs and shifts uncomfortably, “Nah, I’m good.”

Mikey is stiff when he says, “No.”

Frank smiles politely, “No, but thank you for offering.” Gerard shoots him a sidelong glance; he pretends not to notice. Then Donna launches into the typical motherly I’m-going-to-ask-you-a-bunch-of-questions-because-you-are-obvously-involved-with-my-son.

“So Frank,” Donna starts. “If I understand correctly, you are in Gryffindor.”

He nods once, “Yes.”

“And you are on the Quidditch team?”

“Seeker.”

“Impressive,” but she doesn’t look impressed. “You have good grades in school?” Oh thank God! Frank was hoping she’d get to these questions because if nothing else he said didn’t do it, this would. He smiles brightly,  “I received an ‘outstanding’ on every final.” _Even Herbology_ , but he doesn’t add that.

This time she actually _does_ look impressed, “Are you close with my children?”

He nods enthusiastically, “Yes. Mikey and I grew quite close near the beginning of the year. However, Gerard…” he gives Gerard a nervous look because he doesn’t know if he should say anything about their relationship, and fuck if Gerard knows what he should be saying. He’s not used comfortable around his mother either.

Donna raises an eyebrow, “What’s the matter?”

He gives Gerard and questioning look and Gerard shrugs. “Mrs. Way… can I speak with you privately for a moment?” She looks surprised but it’s nothing compared to the look on Mikey’s face. He looks like Frank just shot a puppy. But _his_ face is nothing compared to Gerard’s face! He looks like Frank shot a puppy and then fucking ate it or something.

Donna nods stiffly, “Of course.” They get up and Frank follows her to the kitchen. Frank wasn’t exactly sure where this was going or what he was thinking, but he was just going to let his mouth do all the talking and hope his brain could catch up.

“Mrs. Way,” he starts slowly. “I’m very close with Gerard.”

She looks upset, “Exactly how close is ‘very close’?” And Frank almost bursts out laughing because the very first thing that comes to his mind is: _Uh… his dick has been inside of me?_ But he doesn’t say that.

“I – I… Listen, I’m going to be completely honest with you.” He laughs breathlessly. “I am in love with your son.” She doesn’t say anything so he continues, “I would give my life, and gladly, to see him happy. I am fully devoted to him, and I want to spend the rest of my life with him.” The second that it all left his mouth, he knew that, without a doubt, it was true. It was absolutely true. He wanted to spend his nights lying in bed with Gerard doing God-knows-what. He wants to build forts out of blankets and fall asleep holding his hand. He wanted to walk down a stupid, long aisle in a pair of shitty converse and say the two most cliché words to ever exist: “ _I do_ ”.

It takes quite a few seconds, but Frank elicits a small smile from Donna Way. She purses her lips a second and then says, “I thought Gerard looked different when he walked in. There was something brighter about him.” Her expression melts to that of fondness, “When he looks at you he actually _smiles_.” Then her expression is pained, “It’s unusual for me, sure. I’m not exactly positive how all of this will pan out, but as far as it counts, I give my blessing.”

Frank feels like a bulldozer has been lifted off his chest, “That’s all I needed,” he breathes happily.

Suddenly she puts her hands out as if she wants to touch Frank but knows she shouldn’t. She looks hesitant when she tells him, “Just – make sure he’s careful with you.” _Whoa_ , Frank thinks, _that is not where I was expecting this to go_. “I don’t want him to lose you. I don’t want this family to lose the only thing that makes my little boy smile.”

Frank feels like crying, “You won’t. He won’t. I promise.” Then she surprises them both but springing forward and hugging Frank. At first he doesn’t know how to react and his arms hang limply by his sides, but after a few seconds his brain registers what’s happening and his arms find their way around her waist.

“Thank you,” she whispers. Frank nods and doesn’t say anything. After that they both casually make their way back out to the living room; Gerard looks nervous and sad—which makes Frank a little upset—and Mikey’s face is characteristically blank. They sit down, Frank grabbing Gerard’s hand and gently petting it. The second Frank touched him, both Mikey and Donna noticed a clear change in his disposition. He went from looking twitchy and agitated to relaxed and comforted. Frank really was a miracle.

Frank smiles at him and he smiles back and they both look at Donna and she takes a deep breath. “I hope you two have some sort of plan for your future…”

Gerard gapes, “So you’re – you’re _okay_ with it?”

Frank squeezes his hand and his mother raises an eyebrow, “Are _you_ okay with it?” At first, Gerard doesn’t say anything. He just sits there with a dumb look on his face, and it kinda scares Frank. Is Gerard having second thoughts about wanting to be with Frank? Is he regretting the decision he made when he said ‘ _I love you_ ’? Gerard looks at his mom, then at Mikey, and then he slowly turns to Frank. His eyes are wide and he tilts his head to the side, carefully examining Frank’s face and Frank feels his heart break a little; if he hadn’t sold his soul for Gerard already, he definitely has now.

“I’m pretty sure,” Gerard starts before turning to look at his mother, “I’d die without him.” Frank slumps in relief and continues to absentmindedly trace invisible patterns on the back of Gerard’s hand. He’s smiling into his lap like a fucking schoolgirl or something and he knows that Mikey must be judging him so hard right now.

Donna Way smiles, “Then I’m okay with it.”

It only takes a second for the silence to become uncomfortable, and Mikey takes it upon himself to bring up the topic they were all avoiding. “Mom… Frank is—”

“I know,” she says, smiling sadly. “I know Frank is muggle born, and if I were to be completely honest…” Her expression is pained. “I could not care less. However, you’re going to need a plan; your father will not like this, Gerard.”

Gerard sits up and squares his shoulders, “I know, but I’m not sorry. I would do anything for Frank and if that means being disowned by my father then I’ll do it. We planned on staying at Frank’s house.” Frank feels a strange sort of pride and blushes when he realizes that what he’s feeling is something he never thought he’d be good enough to feel: Special.

Donna looks at Frank, “Are your parents okay with that?” Wow. This woman seemed genuinely concerned that Frank’s parents wouldn’t want her children around Frank, and that made him feel something else completely new: Responsible. “I would hate for them to be a burden.”

Frank shakes his head quickly, “No! Definitely not. My parents are ecstatic that I’m finally bringing some friends home.”

She smiles knowingly at him, “Ah, so you haven’t told them yet?”

Frank laughs nervously and scratches the back of his head, “Er, no. Waiting for the right time, y’know?”Oh she understood alright; when was the time going to be right for her to tell her husband that their son is spending the rest of his life with a muggle born and that she actually supports it? “I understand,” she says, nodding her head. Then she stands up and they all follow suit. Donna stands there with a few tears in her eyes and looks at them proudly, “I’m going to miss you Gerard,” then she looks at Mikey. “You too Michael. Always you too. And Frank?” She turns to look at him and it seems as if she’s trying to say a million different things to him with just her mind. “We might not know each other very well but I know what’s good for my children and you – you are it.”

Gerard surges forward and grabs his mother, “Mom I love you.” Then Mikey hugs her, and Frank extends his hand to shake, but she pulls him into a hug and he’s surprised again but hugs her back just like last time.

“Okay now you all better leave.” She looks at the clock, “Don will be home soon.”

They’re all getting their things together, saying last goodbyes, and a few tears were spilled here and there along with a few murmured ‘I love you’s (mainly from Gerard and Frank to one another), and a few minutes later, right before Frank grabs Gerard’s hand and disapparates, he turns to Donna and looks at her earnestly, “Mrs. Way? You’re a lovely, kind, and honest woman.” He takes Gerard’s hand and Donna tearfully smiles at him. Frank smiles back and says, “You shouldn’t let anything or anyone stand in the way of that.” And then they’re gone.


	27. Enter: Linda and Frank Iero

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Yeah,” Frank nods, “this is Mikey and that’s Gerard.”

“Let’s be alone together; we could stay young forever.” – _ _Fall Out Boy; Alone Together__

* * *

 

Right before leaving the Way residence, Gerard and Mikey had quickly grabbed all of their belongings and shoved it into a nifty little bag with an extension charm that Hermione had taught them. As soon as possible, they were saying their tearful goodbyes and disapparating to Kings Cross Station where Frank’s parents were excitedly waiting to see them and bring them home. When Frank spotted his mother, it was the most joyful thing Gerard had seen from Frank, and it made him feel a twinge of jealousy; partly because he wanted to be the one to make Frank feel that way, and partly because he wanted to feel that way with his parents.

“Frankenstein!” A woman with dark hair and a kind face held out her arms and Frank gracefully skipped towards her before encircling her waist and squeezing tightly.

“Hey mama,” he whispers.

When he pulls back, a short man with dark hair ruffles Frank’s hair and smiles kindly, “Hello Frank.”

Frank smiles back, “Hey dad.”

Then the woman notices the two figures lurking behind Frank. “And these are your friends?” Oh how Frank wanted to correct her. Gerard was way more than a friend, like, unless friends fucked each other and decidedly devoted their entire lives to each other… and he and Mikey were as close as brothers. However, this was not the time nor place to discuss that.

“Yeah,” Frank nods, “this is Mikey and that’s Gerard.”

Frank’s dad smiles at them, “Well, it is certainly nice to meet you two.”

Mikey speaks up first, “Thank you for letting us stay over.”

Frank’s mom beams, “Oh, it’s no problem dear.” A second later, the man is checking his watch before gently touching his wife on the shoulder and motioning to the side. “Linda, the car…”

“Oh, yes!” She looks embarrassed and Gerard starts to see where all of Frank’s quirks come from. “Okay boys we better be off.” So they all pile into the car and on the car ride home they all have a nice conversation, “So how does it feel to be out of school?”

Mikey scoffs, “Amazing?”

Gerard nods feverishly, “Definitely.”

Frank raises an eyebrow, “Ditto.”

Frank’s dad looks at them from the rearview mirror and chuckles, “Ha, and how was the school year?”

Frank’s entire face lights up, “It was great! Although, Hufflepuff won the House Cup. I think it’s because of Patrick—”

Gerard talks before thinking, “I _know_ it was because of Patrick.”

And Frank continues as if nobody had said anything, “—but it also might have had something to do with the fact that Hufflepuff house is the only house that didn’t physically abuse another.”

Gerard nods once, “Yeah, Slytherin and Gryffindor lost so many points.”

“Well that certainly sounds quite interesting boys, but I don’t want you to tell me about it.” She smiles rather kindly, “I’d rather hear about the things that we would be _proud_ of.”

Frank shrugs, “There isn’t much else.” Next to him, Gerard stiffens and Frank quickly tries to reassure him, “I mean, don’t get me wrong!” He says this to his parents but takes Gerard’s hand, “This is, by far, the best year I’ve ever had at HogHogwarts, and it was the most eventful,” he smiles at Gerard before looking back at his mom, “but that’s not because of the number of events that occurred. Just the gravity of the few that did.”

And she seems just as oblivious as ever, “Oh that sounds nice.” She sounds so happy to have Frank around and Gerard seriously is starting to feel a little hurt; why didn’t he have this in his life? Why did nobody seem to care? Frank could get down on one knee and Gerard would still wonder if he was doing it out of pity or not. “You’ll have to tell us about it later.”

“I certainly will,” Frank murmurs, looking down at his fingers entwined with Gerard’s. When he looks up, Gerard is staring at their hands as well, and his face is fond; reflective. Like he was trying to remember all of the reasons he loved Frank—which Frank thought would be a short list.

Once they arrive at Frank’s house, they all load their stuff in through the front door before parting ways for the time being. The look on Gerard’s face is worth a million dollars, but the look on Mikey’s is priceless; they are both shocked beyond belief, staring up at the high ceiling and the furniture and the immaculate wood floors.

“Whoa…” Gerard starts, “you _live_ here?” Frank forgot to mention to them that he lived in a really big house; it never really seemed like something he needed to bring up at any point in the past.

Frank shrugs, “As far as I can tell.” He starts to head up the stairs and the Way brothers trail behind, both feeling slightly out of place even with the wealth of their own family. When they reach the third floor, Frank starts down a hallway to the left and enters the first room on the right.

Frank’s room is… shocking. It’s nothing like the house, but it’s nothing like they were expecting. Yes, it’s obviously an extremely large room, but it’s carpeted, there’s junk everywhere, food wrappers littering the floor, a box of spilled CD’s by the stereo, and a box of DVD’s dumped out on the floor beneath the television. There isn’t much natural light and the opaque black curtains are drawn tightly shut. The walls are covered in posters of bands and papers from school; Frank has an entire area on his wall that is dedicated to all of his OWL’s since his first year. Frank flops down on his unmade bed and Mikey takes a seat on the floor. Gerard sits in the chair by the desk and looks at Frank contemplatively. “What do your parents _do_ for a living?”

Frank yawns, “My dad is a lawyer. My mom is a doctor. They make a lot of money.” Frank wasn’t going to mention that the rest of their wealth came from an ancestor that was quite famous in the wizarding world.

Mikey scoffs, “Yeah, we can see that!”

Frank smiles at him and then starts to talk about the rooming situation, “Mikey, there’s a room down the hall that you can stay in.” Mikey nods and then Frank looks at Gerard, “Gee, there’s a room across the hall you can stay in…” He doesn’t mention that Gerard probably won’t be staying in that room at all, whatsoever, because he doesn’t think it’s very appropriate with Mikey around.

In his pocket, Frank’s phone buzzes, and he pulls it out before glancing down at the screen. When he looks back up, his face is a slight grimace, “We have to go downstairs.”

“What?” Mikey asks in annoyance. “Why?”

“Because my mom made pizza,” Frank replies with a pained sigh.

“I may be exhausted,” Gerard starts. “But I will always make time for pizza.”

“I completely agree,” Mikey nods vigorously. Frank wrinkles his nose but gets up anyway, dragging his feet out the door, down the hall, down the stairs, and to the kitchen. There isn’t much of a dinner conversation and when everyone is done cleaning up, the boys head back upstairs. They’re paused outside Frank’s door when Frank stops them to say goodnight and a few parting words.

“So there are probably a lot of things around here that you’ll have no idea how to work,” he shrugs and smiles. “Don’t feel stupid because even _I_ can never turn the fucking DVD player on.”

Mikey frowns, “What’s a DVD player?”

Frank giggles, “Oh, you will find out soon enough.”

“Well, on that note: Goodnight!” Mikey turns on his heel and starts down the hall before turning back and smirking at them knowingly, “Try to sleep?” Gerard rolls his eyes and Frank makes a noise of protest; of course Mikey is right. They’re definitely not going to sleep, but that doesn’t mean he has the right to point it out.

Everyone retreats to their respective rooms, and Frank and Gerard are eventually lying down on the bed in their pajamas, not saying anything, and just staring up at the ceiling. Gerard rolls onto his side and looks at Frank, “We should talk.”

Frank frowns but doesn’t look at him, “Usually those _aren’t_ good words?”

Gerard sighs, “No, I mean—” he pauses and looks frustrated but hesitant. “Frank… what are we doing?”

This time Frank does look at him, “What do you mean?” And cue massive Gee freak out in 3, 2, 1…

“I mean exactly that!” Frank was psychic. “What are we doing? What are we? Are even a ‘we’? Is there an ‘us’? Am I fooling myself or something? Is this—” But Frank cuts him off by kissing him and pulling him close. Gerard tries to ignore that stupid little flip that his stomach does whenever Frank is around him. And when he pulls back, his eyes are closed and his face is content. “Frankie…” he breathes, opening his eyes and staring at Frank lovingly.

Frank smiles and strokes the side of his face, “When I was talking with your mother,” he starts. “I told her that I was in love with you.”

Gerards eyes practically bulge out of his head, “What?!”

“And she accepted it. Actually, she encouraged it.”

“ _What_?!” His fingers were digging into Frank’s side hard enough to cause bruises. Frank squirms uncomfortably and Gerard jumps slightly, loosening his grip and smiling apologetically, “Sorry.”

Frank smiles, “It’s fine…” then he hesitates. “Gee, I – I want to spend every day of my life with you.” Gerard’s breath catches in his throat. “I want to wake up every morning and see you next to me and _know_ you’re mine.” Then his eyes grow dark with lust, “I want you to love me every night of my fucking life.” Gerard instinctively pulls him closer. “I want to be yours. I want you to be mine. I want – I want _you_.”

Gerard closes his eyes for a second before whispering, “I’m yours, Frankie. I am so yours.”


	28. Extra, Extra! Read All About It: Frank Iero Is In Love!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Can I talk to you about something?”
> 
> She doesn’t even hesitate, “Of course.” Then she pauses and looks at him, “Wait, you’re not in trouble, are you?”

“Nice work you did. You’re gonna go far, kid.” – _ _The Offspring; You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid__

* * *

“Do you want any bacon?”

Mikey beams and hold out his plate, “Yes please!”

Gerard nods, but Frank grimaces and cringes away from the plate that is being passed across the table. His mother gives him a knowing look and he makes a noise of frustration, “Mom, it’s been almost 17 years.”

She laughs, “I know, Frankenstein. I keep forgetting.”

He rolls his eyes, “You mean you keep repressing.”

She nods once, “Exactly.” She sits down at the table with them and Frank looks at Gerard. After a brief mental conversation, Gerard nods softly and squeezes his hand under the table.

“Hey mom?” Frank looks at her hesitantly.

“Yes, dear?” She can’t even sense the panic in his voice.

“Can I talk to you about something?”

She doesn’t even hesitate, “Of course.” Then she pauses and looks at him, “Wait, you’re not in trouble, are you?”

“No!” He exclaims, “Nothing like that. It’s just some… big news, I guess.”

She smiles in relief, “Well then go ahead.”

After a few seconds, Frank clears his throat and starts talking, “There’s a really complicated, and stupid, reason that Gerard and Mikey have to stay with us.” Frank doesn’t really know where this is going, but he’s going to trust his mouth to say all the right things—it’s never lead him astray before… except for that one time that he told Gerard they weren’t friends. Oops. Luckily, he’s moved past that. “Their father is a purist and Gerard is, like, kinda in love with a muggle born? He knew he’d be disowned so he decided to just leave while he had the chance to do so freely.” He laughs nervously and scratches the back of his head, “Mikey was just part of the package.”

“Oh, Gerard.” Linda Iero’s face is heartbroken. “I am so sorry to hear about that. I don’t know how people could be so close minded about things like ‘blood status’!” Frank’s mom is kinda perfect in every sense of the word. “I’m sure that whoever owns your heart would be grateful for a boy like you.”

Frank laughs awkwardly again, “Oh don’t worry, ma.” He really can’t believe he’s finally telling his mom that he’s, like, basically getting married. “I’m eternally grateful for a guy like Gee.”

She gapes, “Francis Anthony Iero!” Gerard snickers at his name and Frank shoots him a glare. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?!”

He smiles, “It didn’t seem like the right time, okay?” But she doesn’t seem convinced. “I’m sorry, but I’m also… not sorry?” She raises an eyebrow. “I mean, I didn’t know how you’d take it, and I didn’t know how this would all pan out.”

Then she cuts him off, completely forgetting her anger at him, “Oh, and your father wasn’t even here to hear this! What a shame. Such great news only falling to one pair of ears.”

Frank frowns, “So you’re, like, cool?”

She snaps out of her trance, “What?” She looks at him and then smiles, “Of course I am! Whatever makes you happy makes me happy. Besides, after meeting Gerard, part of me was secretly hoping this would happen.”

Frank’s eyes narrow, “I can’t tell if that’s amazing or really creepy.”

Gerard snickers and elbows him in the side, softly whispering, “She just has your future in mind, Frankie.”

Frank rolls his eyes, “I _know_ Gee. I’ve lived with the woman for nearly 17 years. Everything she does is to benefit me, which is why she’s the best mom ever.”

Linda puts a hand over her heart and beams at her son, “Aw, I love you too, dear. Oh, this is just so exciting!” She claps her hands together excitedly before saying, “Tell me about it.”

Frank, who can finally relax in his seat, leans into Gerard slightly and shrugs casually, “Well, what do you want to know?”

“How serious is this?”

He blinks once, “More serious than that time with the clown and the poodle.”

Her face goes blank for a second before registering exactly what he said, “Oh… oh! That is – wow, Frank. That is incredibly serious.” She looks slightly worried and slightly in awe, “How long have you known each other?”

Gerard looks confused, “Since first year?”

Mikey chimes in, “What you _should_ have asked was ‘how long have you tolerated each other?’ Gee and Frank fought for the longest time, but as you can see,” he gestures toward Frank and Gerard, “they got past their differences.”

She smiles softly, “Well, if there’s one thing I know, it’s that my Frankenstein is an amazing judge of character. And he loves with his whole heart.”

Gerard scoffs and says under his breath, “With his entire being, really.”

Frank looks at him with death in his eyes, “Gee…”

“Sorry,” he mutters.

Linda’s face is slightly bitter, “I’m going to pretend I don’t know what you two are talking about.” Then she laughs nervously, “Either way, I’m so happy for you both, and I can’t believe Frank found someone who can deal with his stubbornness.”

Gerard interjects, “I don’t know if I deal with it or ignore the fact that it exists or love it more than anything. He’s just a beautiful person in general.”

She squeals, “Oh, you two are just so adorable! We need to celebrate! I should call your grandparents. We should have a party! Frank, do you want to invite any other friends over?”

Frank holds out his hands, “Mama, we’re dating. Not engaged.”

Gerard looks at him in disappointment, “So you don’t plan on marrying me?”

Frank looks at him incredulously, “Jesus Christ, of _course_ I’m going to marry you!” He slaps Gerard’s arm, “Do not ever question me again Gerard Arthur Way or so help me you will sleep alone for the rest of your life.”

Linda takes this chance to interrupt, “Again, I’m going to pretend I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Frank looks at her apologetically, “Probably better off that way.”

Mikey shrugs and leans back in his seat, “That’s what _I_ do.”

Gerard looks at him sharply, “Shut it Mikey.”

Mikey gives him an innocent smile, “Love you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M SO SORRY ABOUT NOT POSTING A CHAPTER IN A THOUSAND YEARS, I'M SO SORRY PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE FORGIVE ME!


	29. These Are a Few of My Favourite Things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You still wearing your shoes, right?”

“If you wait around forever you will surely drown.” – _ _The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus; Face Down__

* * *

Pete Wentz had gone home utterly miserable. There had been no reassuring time at the end of the school year to help him cope with the fact that he was in love with Patrick and the stupid idiot had no idea. Sometimes he wonders if he made the right decision that day at Hogsmeade. He wonders if he was right when he didn’t confess his feelings to Patrick the way he should have.

As Pete sits in his bedroom, staring at his phone on the bed in front of him, he bites his lip nervously as the notification light flashes. He knows it’s a text. As soon as he’d gotten home, he’d pulled out his phone and spent several hours typing and revising a text message that he was too afraid to say directly to Patrick’s face. All that time and effort just for him to type, ‘ _Hey, just so you know? I’m in love with you. So yeah. Feel free to never talk to me again_.’

And before he could chicken out and erase it, he hit ‘ _SEND’_. That was thirty minutes ago.

Now he has a reply and he’s way too scared to read it. Eventually he just takes a deep breath and picks it up, quickly hitting ‘ _READ_ _NOW’_. It’s not even a text from Patrick, and Pete can’t tell if that makes him really happy or really upset.

It’s a text from Gerard:

 

‘ _Bro, I faced my fears and it worked in my favor. I got the most amazing human being on the planet, AND I got to fuck him. Talk to Patrick. You won’t regret it._ ’

 

Fuck… so even Gerard is trying to get him to man the fuck up. He sighs and reads the message a few more times, just thinking about what he _might_ say to Patrick if he ever got the chance. Four minutes later his mom calls up, “Pete, I’m going out for a few hours.  Be good.”

After he hears the door slam, he takes a deep breath and goes downstairs, rummaging around in his fridge for something to eat. The doorbell rings, and when he answers it, he’s kinda shocked but he’s also Pete Wentz, and Pete Wentz does _not_ get embarrassed… unless it has something to do with Patrick Stump. In which case: fuck.

Patrick smiles, “Hey Pete.”

“Oh,” he pauses. “Hey Trick…”

Patrick doesn’t seem to notice that anything is wrong with him, “D’you wanna hang out or something?”

Pete nods a few times, “Yeah, sure.” He steps aside and lets Patrick pass by him. A few minutes later, Pete and Patrick are seated in the living room, eyes fixated on the TV screen. Finn and Jake flounce across the screen followed by Princess Bubblegum and L[umpy] S[pace] P[rincess]. They’re sitting side by side, shoulders barely brushing, and Pete finally decides to say something. “I text you by the way.” His voice drops a little when he adds, “Don’t know if you got it or not…”

Patrick frowns, eyes still on the screen, “Oh, sorry. My phone’s dead.”

Pete lets out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding, “Dude, it’s fine. Don’t gotta apologize for a shitty battery life.” He feels Patrick shrug and hears him say, “Yeah, I guess.”

After a few seconds, Pete suddenly looks at him and say, “Do you want to go to Hogsmeade?” Patrick blinks a few times and slowly turns his head to meet Pete’s eyes. Pete is biting his lips nervously and Patrick kinda blushes a little. Finally he chokes out, “What? Why?”

Pete shrugs, “There are a few things I wanted to do before I came home, but I couldn’t.” That wasn’t exactly a lie. In fact, it wasn’t a lie at all. “Besides, we’re not really doing anything, and you’ll make the trip a lot more fun than if I go alone.”

Patrick laughs a little, “I see your point.”

“Coolio,” Pete nods. “You still wearing your shoes, right?” He doesn’t bother to look himself.

Patrick looks down at his feet before turning back to Pete, “Uh… yeah, but I don’t—” And without warning, Pete grabs his hand and Patrick feels all the air leave his lungs. A second later, they’re standing directly in front of The Magical Menagerie.

Patrick yanks his hand away from Pete as he steadies himself against the window, “Can you warn me next time?” He only looks slightly annoyed and Pete thinks it’s absolutely _adorable_!

But he keeps his cool, “Whatever floats your boat, Trick. C’mon, I gotta go in here.” They go inside and, just like last time, Patrick immediately goes to the kittens, cooing to them and turning into a baby-talking animal lover.

Pete smiles and walks up behind him, “You really love cats, don’t you?”

Patrick doesn’t look at him, “I _really_ love cats.”

Pete kneels down and points, “Which one is your favorite?”

Patrick’s head cocks to the side, “Oh that’s a hard question.” Then he breaks out into the biggest smile ever and looks at Pete, “They’re all so cute, I can’t even handle myself!”

Pete bumps his shoulder a little, giving a fond smile, “’S how I feel when I’m with you.” Holy shit, he cannot believe he just said that! Patrick blushes and smiles but doesn’t say anything. Then he points to the shy kitten in the back; he stares into the deep blue eyes of the grey and black furred cat with white streaks on its face and paws.

“I like that one the most.”

Pete beams, “I knew you would.”

“Guess you know me pretty well, huh?”

Pete scoffs, “We’ve been friends since second year, dude.” He laughs a little and his mind flashes back a few years, “I’d hope I’d know you pretty well.”

“True.” Patrick shrugs, “But things got weird in third year.”

“Yeah, I know,” he coughs uncomfortably. “There’s a reason for it, but we can, like, talk about that later. So, you like that one, huh?” Smooth subject change, Pete… not.

However, Patrick doesn’t seem to notice, “Mhmm!”

“Well, I guess that’s good…” Crap. Here it comes: “Considering that it’s yours.”

“What do you mean? I don’t – oh…” A look of recognition crosses his face, “Oh God,” he breathes. “ _Oh_. _My_. _God_! I cannot believe you!” He punches Pete’s shoulder and he’s pretty strong for a tiny dude, but he’s also a really talented flyer.

Pete’s face falls, “You’re kinda making a scene, Trick.” People around the store have started to stare and Pete can’t really handle it. “You can yell at me all you want when we get home, okay?” Then he blushes, “Er, I meant… when we get back to my house.”

Patrick doesn’t even kind of give a shit, “Damn right, I’ll be yelling at you when we get home! This conversation is _not_ over, mister!” And he disapparates immediately.

Pete shrugs he picks up the cat and throws a wave over his shoulder towards Madame Lola. “See you later, Lola.”

The middle-aged Gypsy woman at the front of the store smiles and gives him a wave, “Be a good boy, Pete. He seems like a difficult one.”

“Don’t I know it,” Pete rolls his eyes and disapparates.

Patrick Stump stalks into Pete Wentz’s kitchen where his phone is charging. Angrily, he’s about to text his second closest friend, Mikey Way, about how difficult his life has become—how Pete is making it hard to even _live_ because Patrick is desperately in love with him—because he fell in love with an idiot like Pete; a guy who is really amazing and also really fucking annoying. Yes, he’s _about_ to text Mikey that when he sees he has an unread message and remembers what Pete had said about texting him. Purely out of curiosity, he hits ‘ _Read Now_ ’ and rolls his eyes before reading:

 

‘ _Hey, just so you know? I’m in love with you. So yeah. Feel free to never talk to me again._ ’

 

His heart has stopped—not literally because then he’d die—and he can barely breathe. How could he be so fucking _blind_?! How could he _not_ see anything that Pete has been trying to tell him? He feels like a fucking idiot. Then he feels something nudge his foot, and when he looks down he sees a cat pawing at his shoelaces. He turns around and when his eyes meet Pete’s, Pete is smiling slightly. The only intelligent thing that Patrick can utter is, “What?”

Pete shrugs and casually walks forward, “I would have said it to your face, y’know. With, like, carefully constructed sentences or some shit like that.” He gives a wary smile, “Just didn’t turn out that way.” He stops a few inches away from Patrick and sighs, “I _wanted_ to say it the first time we went to Hogsmeade, and I feel really, _really_ fucking idiotic for not having the guts to do something as simple as telling the truth.”

Part of Patrick is still not understanding the concept of _Pete_ loving him _back_. “I’m completely and hopelessly in love with you, Patrick Stump, and I have been since third year when I broke a bunch of pots in Herbology because I was being stupid, and you told Professor Sprout that it was you just being clumsy.” Oh yes. Patrick remembers that. It was hilarious and perfect in every way possible. “Every day after that I wanted to tell you but I just couldn’t. I was too scared about what you’d say because I’m just me and you’re, like, _you_.” Pete runs his fingers through his hair in frustration, “It was torture to see you every day and not be able to hold your hand; even in the summer when you’d spend the night with Gerard, he’d try and get me to say something but I just…” He backs up a few feet and falls into the chair at the table. “So, yeah. I love you.”

Patrick shakes his head in disbelief, “Peter Wentz, you are such a fucking idiot.” Pete’s face is hurt beyond belief. Patrick rolls his eyes, “Come here and kiss me _now_ , you asshole.” Pete smiles and lurches forward, closing the gap between them, and gently placing his lips over Patrick’s. They both feel a jolt of electricity, and pull back with wide eyes. “That was—”

Pete cuts him off, “Whoa.”

“Yeah…”

“Totally.”

“Should we?”

“Couldn’t hurt.”

“Once more?”

“God yes.” They kiss again, but more firmly this time; more sensually. When Patrick pulls away, he rests his forehead on Pete’s, closing his eyes and stroking Pete’s face. “God I love you so fucking much.”

Pete smiles, “Couldn’t have said it better if I wanted to.” He grabs Patrick’s face and kisses his forehead. Then they both hear a faint meow and Patrick remembers. He bends down to pick the cat up, and it immediately tries to climb its way into the crook of his neck. “What are you gonna name him?” Pete asks, gently stroking the cat’s paw with his index finger.

“Hmm. Not sure. It’s either gotta be something really epic or really stupid.”

“C’mon,” Pete grabs Patrick’s hand, entwining their fingers and leading him to the living room. They lie down on their stomachs, facing each other, with the cat sleeping between them, just ogling over how adorable it is. “What about Sam? Or maybe Dean?”

Patrick raises an eyebrow, “Pfft, what next; John or Cas?”

Pete rolls his eyes, “Next fandom then… Rory?”

Patrick’s face goes blank for a second before he says, “Oswin…”

“What about Oswald?”

“No Pete. That’s what I’m naming him. Oswin.”

Pete gives him a shocked look and suddenly he’s staring off into the distance at something that Patrick can’t see, “Dude that falls on the ‘epic’ side of the spectrum.”

Patrick nods, “I know.”

“Holy shit… Trick, his name is Oswin Stump. How amazing is that?!”

Patrick smiles slightly, “I think ‘Oswin Wentz’ sounds pretty bitchin’.”

Pete rolls his eyes, “He can’t have _both_ our last names.”

“Okay, then I’ll change my name to Patrick Wentz.”

Pete waves his hands frantically, “No fucking way! Peter Stump sounds like a comic book character. I am definitely the one changing names here.”

“I’m not even going to fight you on it. Your argument holds too much validity.”

“Exactly.” Pete beams.

After a few seconds, Patrick says, “So when _do_ you plan on changing your name?” He’s not looking at Pete and he’s blushing like an idiot.

Pete smiles and grabs his hand, “I don’t know. When do you plan on me asking you to marry me?”

Patrick rubbed his thumb over the back of Pete’s hand, “I would say in about four years? Five?”

Pete scrunches up his nose, “I don’t want to wait five years.”

“Nobody _really_ wants to wait, Pete,” Patrick laughs, looking at him lovingly. “We’re only 17. That’s not even an adult in the muggle world. We have to wait, and _that_ is something I will not budge on.”

Pete frowns and then says, “You suck.”

“Yeah, I do suck…” he shrugs and then smirks. “And blow, and swallow.” Pete’s face gets red, “Anything else you’d like to know?”

Pete blushes and scratches the back of his head, “No,” he mutters.

“Good,” Patrick kisses his cheek and he feels Oswin paw at his shoulder. Patrick pulls back and smiles at the cat, scratching him behind the ears.

“I think he’s jealous, Trick.”

“Oh I _know_ he’s jealous. You better be on your best behaviour Pete. I think you have some competition.”

“Okay, maybe he can have your heart,” he leans forward and kisses Patrick slowly. “But Oswin Stump can’t fuck you.”

Patrick shivers and smiles against Pete’s lips, “Good argument.” Pete pulls back and rests his head on his arms, staring at Oswin thoughtfully. The cat reaches out and touches his nose a few times before sniffing him, rubbing his face on Pete’s cheek, and curling up as close as he can to Pete’s elbow.

“Nothing is as irresistible as a boy with a kitten. You’re my kryptonite, Pete.”

Pete smiles. “Wanna spend the night?” He says to nobody in particular.

“As long as you make mac-and-cheese,” Patrick smiles.

Pete looks at him with a blank expression, “I was talking to Oswin.”

Patrick shoves him playfully and Pete snickers, “You can come too.”


	30. The End of the Beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Y’know,” Frank starts with a smirk. “I haven’t really had you all to myself lately.”

 

“Save me from my self destruction: hopeless for you.” – _My Chemical Romance; Boy Division_

* * *

 

Gerard and Frank are forced to hang out together, alone, because Mikey said he was “getting disgusted with all of their gooey romance stuff”. So they’re in Frank’s basement, on the couch, spooning, and generally being disgustingly adorable when Gerard gets curious. He kisses Frank’s shoulder and says, into the material of Frank’s sweatshirt, “Did you mean what you said?” Frank doesn’t reply. “Earlier, I mean.”

“I said a lot of things earlier,” Frank murmurs, playing with Gerard’s fingers. “Which one are you referring to?”

Gerard smiles slightly, but hesitates before finally saying, “When you said – said you’d marry me.”

Frank rolls over, smiles fondly, and cups the side of Gerard’s face. “The thought of not marrying you scares me beyond belief.” Gerard smiles and turns his head, kissing the center of Frank’s palm. Frank sighs and continues, “In fact, it doesn’t even register in my mind.”

“Oh sweetest love…” Gerard murmurs. “I don’t think you’ll ever be completely aware of what you do to me…”

Frank rolls his eyes but leans forward and kisses Gerard lightly, “If it’s anything close to what you make me feel, then I think I get it.” Frank pulls back and brushes his fingers across Gerard’s cheek, beaming at him.

Gerard leans into his touch, “I don’t understand how you can be so amazing all the fucking time. It’s like…” he can’t exactly think about what he’s trying to say, “You care about everyone and everything, every moment of your day and I just don’t get it.”

Frank frowns, “I don’t even know how to respond to that. I’m not – I’m not perfect and I hate people thinking I am. What if… what if I fuck up? Like, _really_ fuck up? What if I disappoint you? If you think I’m perfect I feel like I can’t make mistakes.”

“Fuck Frankie, I’m so sorry.” Gerard feels horrible, “I just – I want you to know that I love you. I love you so fucking much that it hurts. It hurts every day of my goddamned life. Maybe you’re not perfect, but so what? Every imperfection, every scar, every chink in your armor… you might see it as something to be ashamed of. I see it as something to be celebrated. I live to worship your body, Frank Iero.”

Frank shivers and closes his eyes. “Gerard Way, you are my everything. You’re so beautiful and so kind.”

Gerard scoffs, “That statement is so false it’s not funny.”

Frank opens one eye and raises an eyebrow at him, “Well you seemed to have no problem over-looking my attempt at ruining your life.”

“Which I see as admirable above all things.”

“I’ll never understand that,” Frank mutters.

“I’ll never understand how you see me as beautiful,” Gerard argues casually.

“Agree to disagree. Is that not what they say?”

“I think that is definitely what they say.”

“Y’know,” Frank starts with a smirk. “I haven’t really had you all to myself lately.”

Gerard raises his eyebrows, “Well you have me now. Any ideas?”

Frank shrugs, “Oh just a few.”

“Do any of them involve clothes?”

“No,” Frank smiles wickedly.

“Great!” Gerard says excitedly, “When do we start?”

“Now,” and Frank gently leans up to carefully kiss Gerard’s neck before nipping at his Adams Apple and smiling against his skin when Gerard makes a small noise of contentment. “Fuck, Gee. I don’t think you know how hard I want you to fuck me,” Gerard shivers and Frank kisses his neck again, “You’re so fucking beautiful.”

“I thought we were agreeing to disagree on that?”

“Well I changed my mind,” Frank pulls away and looks up at Gerard through his long lashes before saying, “Do you want me to prove it? Do you want me to prove how fucking badly I want you?”

For a second, Gerard can’t speak, but when he finds his voice, it’s not hesitant or faint at all. He looks at Frank knowingly and says, “I don’t really think you c—” And then Frank grabs Gerard’s hand and puts it over the already forming bulge in his pants.

Gerard gapes and Frank looks up at him with innocent eyes and says, “It’s just so difficult to look at you without ripping your fucking clothes off and cry your name over and over as you fuck me so hard that the mere thought of sitting down has me in pain.” Then Frank bites his bottom lip and flutters his eyelashes and Gerard is going to die. He feels his insides twisting up and he has such this weird feeling in his chest and he doesn’t understand it.

“Then let’s see what we can do about that,” Gerard smiles.

“Yay,” Frank says quietly, leaning in to kiss Gerard. At first the kiss is slow; deep and passionate, reaching down to the bottom of Frank’s very soul and tugging at his heartstrings. Frank threads his fingers through Gerard’s hair, and Gerard rests his hand on Frank’s waist.

Frank’s leg finds its way over Gerard’s hip and he pulls himself closer, pushing Gerard over and rolling on top of him. They’re both hard and _extremely_ eager; so eager, in fact, that Gerard doesn’t waste any time in removing Frank’s clothes, and before he knows it, Frank is lying in front of him, naked, biting his lip and looking at him with those amazingly huge green eyes. Frank’s cock is brushing his stomach and without hesitation, Frank reaches down and slowly starts stroking himself. Gerard, who is enjoying his own fucking personal porn, takes off his shirt before stopping and getting lost in the beauty that is Frank.

“This isn’t really fair,” Frank says evenly, concentrating on the motion of his hand. “I mean, you still have your pants on and here I am, all by myself, needing your cock so fucking bad and yet, it’s not where it needs to be.”

Gerard swallows hard and watches Frank’s hand, “Wh-where does it need to b-be, Frankie?” He looks up and meets Frank’s dark, lust-filled eyes. With his unoccupied hand, Frank motions Gerard forward, and when Gerard is over him, leaning down to kiss him, Frank whispers in his ear.

“Where it rightfully belongs,” he licks the curve of Gerard’s ear and arches his back, flicking his wrist a few times and moaning slightly. “Inside of me.” Gerard is off him faster than humanly possible, and the boy is struggling immensely to remove his pants. It takes him a good five seconds, but that’s five seconds more he gets to watch Frank like this.

Then he’s back to kissing Frank, and Frank has abandoned his masturbation tactic in order to put his fingers back in Gerard’s hair. Gerard’s hands ghost over Frank’s hip bones before settling on his upper thighs. Slowly, and methodically, he rolls his hips downward, and Frank whimpers pathetically into his mouth, feeling slightly overwhelmed by the contact.

Gerard smiles against Frank’s lips and moves downward, kissing Frank’s jaw, neck, and collarbone. While Gerard is occupied with Frank’s neck, Frank removes one of his hands from Gerard’s hair and spits into it, reaching down and grabbing both of their dicks. Frank gasps and Gerard’s hips stutter.

Frank lazily jerks his hand and rolls his hips, loving, but not fully enjoying, the feeling of Gerard’s cock against his. “Gee,” Frank keens. “I need more. Fuck, I need you so fucking bad.” Gerard pulls back and looks at him with blown pupils. Gerard looks down at where Frank’s hand is still working it’s sweet, _sweet_ magic. He looks back up and looks at Frank cautiously. Frank rolls his eyes and lets go of his dick, still holding onto Gerard’s.

Frank’s legs splay even further and Gerard is seriously getting turned on by Frank’s impressive flexibility. Frank’s hand guides Gerard’s cock down and he gives Gerard a look that could kill. One that definitely screamed ‘If-You-Don’t-Put-Your-Cock-Inside-Of-Me-Within-The-Next-Ten-Seconds-I-Will-Fucking-Murder-You’, and Gerard did not want to be murdered. He takes a deep breath and slowly starts to push in.

Frank makes a noise of discontent and Gerard let out his breath, “Frankie,” he murmurs. “I don’t wanna hurt you, okay? I want you to tell me to stop if it hurts.”

“Fat chance,” Frank pants, trying to ignore the searing, splitting pain he’s experiencing. “I don’t know if you remember the first time we did this but—”

“Yeah, don’t remind me,” Gerard shudders. “I may actually come right now if you remind me.” He knows Frank likes to be dominated; he knows Frank likes to be hurt in an amazingly good way, but he’s scared that he might hurt Frank in a horrifyingly bad way, and then what would he do?

“You’re not gonna hurt me,” Frank whispers, stroking Gerard’s face.

“Frank,” Gerard says plainly. “There are tears in your eyes.”

“It hurts in the most perfect way possible,” Frank tells him. “You need to hurt me, Gee. I need to you to scratch me, and bite me, and give me bruises. I want to _remember_ every single time you come inside of me. Every single time I cry your name or tell you to go harder or faster. I need to remember.” Gerard is having such difficulty from pushing in all the way and not even caring about Frank, but there’s some sort of reserve holding him back. He’s just so afraid of hurting Frank.

“Fuck,” Gerard mumbles, closing his eyes and trying to control himself. His eyes bulge open and he makes a strangling sound when he feels Frank’ tighten around him, and can’t even help when his hips stutter forward, causing Frank to gasp.

“Shit,” Frank says. “Gerard I need you to just _fuck me_.”

“Frankie, I _can’t_ ,” Gerard whines miserably. “I don’t want to hurt you.” And that was one of the biggest mistakes he has made in his entire life. Frank grabs his hips and practically impales himself on Gerard’s cock, yelping slightly before swallowing hard and staring up at Gerard.

“Dear Gerard Arthur Way,” he says in his scarily-calm voice. “I demand teeth-marks on my shoulders, scratches on my back, bruises on my hips, and a feeling in my ass that could cause a life time of glorious pain.” He very suddenly grabs Gerard by the hair and pulls him down, “I am a person with flesh and bones. I want them shattered like glass, do you hear me? I want to have a reason to stop you, and right now? You’re giving me jack shit. So if you cannot deliver unto me what I desire, I will gladly retire to the bathroom and shove my fingers so far up my ass that I feel them in my throat whilst you sit on the other side of the door and listen to the sounds that you _could_ have caused me to make, and trust me, they’re irresistible.”

And just like at Hogwarts, something broke inside of Gerard, causing him to violently pull out of Frank, grab the smaller boy, turn him over, and take the two second plunge that buried him inside Frank. There was no stopping or checking to see if Frank was okay. Gerard’s fingers grasped Frank’s hips so painfully hard and forced him back and forth, repeatedly being drilled into the mattress by Gerard.

“Fuck,” Frank gasps, closing his eyes tightly. “Oh fuck. Shit, yes! Fuckfuckfuck, uh-uh, fuck me harder, fuck yeah. Shit, _shit_! C’mon, Gee.” Frank teases, “I know you can do harder than that.” And it’s true. The rate at which Gerard is slamming into Frank and the rate at which he is pulling Frank onto his dick is definitely not even, and it hurts Frank so bad, and the burning in his ass hasn’t gone away yet, and he loves it! Gerard angles himself and hits Frank’s prostate, causing the smaller boy to scream.

“Yeah, yeah Gee,” Frank mewls like the needy fucking whore he is when he’s in the bedroom. “Oh yeah, uh-uh, oh – _oh_! O-oh _yes! Yes!_ ” Gerard’s fingernails make their way down Frank’s back causing angry red lines to appear and Frank arches his back, shivering at the amazing sensation. “Fuck, Gee you’re so fucking big.”

“Complaining?” Gerard pants, shoving in extra hard.

“Sh – ah fuck, _no_. No complaints from – goddamnit. From me. Except,” Gerard slows down to hear what Frank is going to say and eventually Frank says, “It doesn’t hurt enough.” Gerard speeds up again, pulling at Frank’s hair, scratching his back, bruising his hips and his ass, and kissing his neck. Frank feels himself being dragged closer and closer to the edge.

He desperately starts jerking off, squeezing hard and flicking the tip with his thumb, “Oh _God yes_. Fuck,” and for the first time ever, Frank Iero has had to come so badly that it hurts in a _bad_ way. He’s making high pitched sounds and deep moans and Gerard can feel Frank getting so fucking close. “Gee! I’m so – fucking…”

“I know,” Gerard gasps, using every ounce of energy he has in order to fucking _push_ into Frank like a, like a… shit he doesn’t even know what but it’s fucking _tight_ and it’s fucking _hot_ and Frank is making those sounds for _him_. And that’s _only_ for him. Gerard knows what Frank desperately needs and grants it to him, leaning down, kissing Frank’s neck, and sinking his teeth into Frank’s shoulder.

Frank screams Gerard’s name before going completely still, white ribbons of come spurting over his fingers. Gerard is still fucking Frank so fucking hard that it’s not even funny. When Frank is nearly done, he comes to his senses, realizing that poor Gerard hasn’t come yet. All he has to do is look back at Gerard with a fucked-out grin and say, “C’mon Gee. Come inside me, fuck you know you want to.”  And Gerard’s heart is going to give out, and he’s still thrusting through his entire orgasm, and stars are shining behind his eyelids, and he can fucking _see_ sounds and _hear_ colours, and he doesn’t understand how he can feel this amazing.

When he’s finished, he pulls out of Frank and falls on the couch. “Jesus Christ,” he pants, “That was – I don’t really… fuck.”

“I know,” Frank mumbles, his face pressed into the pillow, ass still in the air and legs apart.

“You look so fucking,” Gerard shakes his head, “I don’t know how I don’t split you in half with how badly I want to fuck you.”

“I wish you did,” Frank smiles lazily, and Gerard leans over, kissing him lightly and brushing his hair out of his face. He pulls Frank into a hug and pulls a blanket over them. Life has never been so perfect.

So of course, it can’t last.

**THE END.**

**[** **TO BE CONTINUED...]**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that's it guys! Well, not really. I'm writing a prequel and a short, so stay tuned for those! Stuff gets juicy!


	31. AUTHORS SIDE NOTE [2/12/2015]

Hello all! I'm terribly sorry for not updating unfinished fanfictions but after stumbling across this one again, I had an idea!

 

How would guys feel about me rewriting it? Everything that's there now would still be there but I'd like to think my writing and storytelling skills have improved since I posted this.

So PLEASE leave a comment telling me what you would prefer! 

 

-Cap


End file.
